To Forget is To Die
by DarthMomo
Summary: "You may not leave, Сукй," was what he said. It's what he always said to me ever since I first arrived in the strange country. But I don't want to stay, I just want to return home, to my boss, Mr.Jones, and my friends...Please sir, I want to go home!
1. What is this place?

WE ARE BACK!...Well, somewhat, considering little has been published here, at least, from me (Suki). One way or another, we're back with an RP-turned story.

This took a long time to do. Really. A LONG time. At first it was just for fun, ya know? Two friends Rping together was all. But, inevitably, as our USUK Rp had soon become a fic here, this one was soon to be as well. I (Suki) warn you though. This one is long, really long. In fact, it's really a story of it's own right, as yes, there is one hell of a plot. And yes, it does contain an OC of mine (Suki).

**Here's a little background info to get you all started about her, just in case you get confused:** She, Suki (and yes, that is her name; Suki Takio...I wasn't very creative with names when I made her, alright? XD) lived a (fairly) normal life with her family in the midwest, but as a young adult went to college to become a lawyers secretary. Over a course of several long and sometimes painful years of being tested over and over again, by a shadey agency that promised her a great job through the college system, she soon found herself working under Alfred F. Jones, or as we all know as Hetalia nerds: America. She takes notes, summarizes papers and other assorted documents going to and from him, and otherwise keeps everything organized, since he has a hard time with that (what a suprise...XD). If you want to see what she looks like, I have an old link to a picture, which you can find on my part of Momo and my profile. It's old, as I said, and I hope to be updating it very soon.

**Another word of warning:** There is heavy use of Russian within this entire fic. Though I do not provide translations for most of the words, as I want the reader to feel as Suki does entering this foreign country with little more knowledge of the language as she knows how to fly a spaceship, you can find adequate translations from Google. There is also a TON of cultural reference within as well, it's simply saterated with it, from natural habits, to ideals, food and even things as verbal ticks (EX: Russia's trademark 'Да (Da)?' remark).

**Russia** was played by Momo

**Suki** was played by Suki

**We both really hope you all enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it! Remember to always review, as they are utter love for both of us!**

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><p><strong><em>Chapter 1: What is this place?<em>**

**_(Что это за место?)_**

With a small shiver, the young girl frowned, pulling the coat tighter around her body. Huh, whoever said having body fat and layers of clothing could help keep out the cold must have been speaking of another kind, since she was freezing cold, almost loosing feeling in her hands and feet.

"Hey!" She screamed again, slamming her fist hard against the wood door to the entire estate. "Anybody home?" Jease, all that work having to plow through the snow just to deliver something Toris had left when he and Ivan had attended the last meeting. As much as she didn't want to, Alfred and his lazy ass pretty much forced her into doing it herself. No, can't deliver it he said, had to be given by person. It was just an excuse, the girl figured, whether to save money, or any possible wrath from Ivan, the odd man she had come to know from countless meetings of him shaking her bosses hand, she didn't know for sure.

"Да, кто там?" Russia asked, walking leisurely through his mansion. Whoever was at the door probably couldn't hear him, he was pretty far away from it, but he asked simply because he could. Once he reached his front door, which the occasional knock was still coming from, he looked outside through a large window. With a frown, he stated," Зимний пришел в начале этого года..." The whine in his voice was cut short as he let his eyes rest on the source of the knocking. She was short, but had a nice petite frame and red hair, cropped like сестра Ukraine's. Hmm, she looked cold.

The girl huffed to herself, hearing a voice, but nobody opening the door. The language was definitely one she wasn't very familiar with, and it was, duh, Russian, she figured. She was in Russia, after all. Not having the nimbleness in her frozen fingers, nor the will to bother, the girl simply continued to stand in front of the monstrous door, her ears being barraged with several more odd words. Luckily, the girl had managed to get up to there on only a small translation app on her smartphone, so she hoped this delivery could be swift and painless.

"...Excuse me? Could someone please open the door?" She called again, she biting her lip from the quickly chilling ache in her fingertips. She buried them deeper in her coat pockets, praying that they wouldn't have frostbite when things were all said and done.

Russia smiled and opened the door. "Ах, вы, очевидно, американские. Вы, наверное, не понимают русский язык. Почему вы здесь?" Seeing her baffled expression his smile seemed all the more sweet as he said," Если вы потратите гораздо больше времени, там, вы можете потерять палец или два. Это было бы трагично." He made no move to let her in, but merely smiled. After what must have been a minute he asked, "Хотите войти?" He knew the answer of course, she was shivering violently, but he asked for the sake of invitation.

The girl blinked, her eyes wide in apparent fright. She didn't understand a single word this tall man was even speaking. It was almost plainly obvious this man didn't know any English, or he would have spoken it, she not responding to any of his words with anything other than confused looks and a tilted head. Softly, she began to speak, burrowing deep into her mind for something that might help. Huh; she did know a little bit of German. Maybe that might help get her message across about the miscommunication occurring.

"Um, s-sorry," She started, voice soft and shy. "Kein Russisch sprechen..." She had no clue if the other would really understand it much, but it was a better chance than English.

"Ach, Sie sprechen Deutsch? Ich muss zugeben, ich bin überrascht. Die meisten Amerikaner nie lernen eine zweite Sprache. Obwohl Deutsch ist eine dumme Wahl, Russisch viel besser," He responded. Her German was terrible. She either had next to no knowledge of the language, or she was just that bad at it. She didn't even get the gutteral ch right, and said something closet to 'speken' as opposed to 'sprechen'. Oh well, her perplexed face made this enjoyable. It almost looked like she was in pain, she must be thinking too hard. He sunk lower into his scarf, fending off General Winter as a cold blast of wind came directly into the house. "...Er ist nicht freundlich zu sein in diesem Jahr. Coming so früh," Russia commented the frown once again taking over his (what little you could currently see of it) face.

Oh crap. She just made it worse; now he thought that she spoke German? Crap, crap, crap. She hardly knew any bit of that language either, save for one or two words, barely able to make a complete sentence.

"Lo siento, no hablo Ger-...Alloma-...Deu-..." She trailed off in her words, the young girl just trying to think of a way that might better her already dismal sittuation, which was quickly growing worse with each passing second. She groaned, feeling another particuarly strong gust of cold air against her back, the chilling wind whipping against her body, seeming to easily race through her coat. "Please, do you speak any English?" She almost begged, face filled with fear and utter confusion. "I have a package from Alfred to give to a man named 'Liet', or, Toris as my boss said he goes by. Does he live here?" Oh please, please please be the right house, she begged silently.

"Литве?" He asked surprised "Э-э, английский язык? Нет, я не говорю." Though what did she have for Lithuania? And why would America go through the effort to have someone deliver it by hand, and not through the mail? Russia thought about this for a few seconds then with a smile gestured for her to come in and said," Come in, Литва lives here, though he is out for a few days." She looked very cold... He would need her to feel better if she was to tell him about the package. Maybe a drink to take off the winter's edge? "Would you care for водка, Царское шампанское," Hmm she seemed like a light weight, he should probably offer something non-alcoholic," казахский чай? Горячий чай is nice after a cold walk."

Suki quickly took the opportunity, swiftly entering the home, her hands feeling so grateful to be out of that winter chill. She pulled them out of her coat and groaned when she realized how red and chapped they were, and then, with a polite smile, she turned back and nodded to the odd man, feeling so small under his violet gaze.

"A-anything is fine sir, I don't want to impose..." She said slowly, feeling even more intimidated by the man oddly when he had actually spoken the only language she really understands. She bit her lip lightly, eyes flickering from the ground, to his deep, piercing gaze, then back to the ground again. He was at least two heads taller than her, and looked far larger, that odd scarf covering most of his face from view, all except those eyes.

"You don't want your hands to be damaged, да? You should run them under cold water. Зима doesn't play nice, he will hurt you." He led her to the kitchen, pointing her to the faucet and prepping a bag of tea. "What does Америка send for Литва?" His curiosity was getting the better of him. She remained silent and he commented," Хм, она не так ярко." Using a second sink (he had three in this one room... the kitchen was rather big and lonely... so was most of the house...) to fill a pot with water to boil, he looked over at his guest, curious how she could know about the nations and be so... young? Incompetent? He wasn't quite sure what the word he was going for was.

With a slight nod of the head, the girl did as he had suggested, and slowly let the cold pouring water run over her skin. The pain was a little sharp, but leveled off after a few seconds of it.

"Oh, my boss sent me to deliver something that he had left at the last meeting of sort," She said, quickly taking her hands from the tap and drying them off on her coat. Oh well, they will dry...or freeze. With a sigh, she reached into one of her large pockets, bringing out a small palm-sized box, soon handing it off to the large Russian man with another polite nod of her head. "If I don't come off as rude, sir, may I know your name?" she asked with a tilt of her head, blue eyes blinking curiously. With a quick afterthought, not wanting to be seen as rude for forgetting something so simple, she added, "My name is Suki."

"Я Россия," He answered disinterestedly, his attention more centered on the box he took from her. "Привет, Сукй." He opened the box, curiosity finally winning. The small box contained a hair tie, colored white, blue, and red. Russia smiled and in a light happy voice said," Ahh, Литва is celebrating my flag!" It certainly couldn't be red, white, and blue. That thought made his smile deepen, with a small stream of "Коль кол кол кол."

The girl blinked, staring with a fearful curiosity at the man's sudden change in demenor. Taking a small step back in childish fear at his odd chanting mantra, she crossed her arms across her chest, her hands feeling less numb and painfilled. "S-sir, is everything alright...?" She asked slowly, wondering if she, or Литва, whoever that was, had done something wrong or out of place.

"So Аме- Америка wants Литва to have this?" Russia asked, his voice maintaining an innocent cuteness as he snapped the hair tie in half and dropped it to the ground. Upset, he tried to ignore the source of the distress and grabbed a pot, filling it with water and putting it on the stove to boil. "Nothing's wrong. All will become with Россия anyways. Да, Белый, синий и красный. They're all the colors of my flag, not Америка, Англия, Франция..." he muttered to himself, listing all the countries' flags that consisted of that color scheme. Did Luxemburg count? It had a lighter blue... Да, why not... They all... They all would become one with him anyways... He would have such a nice full house.

Suki wasn't sure to be sympathetic with the man, or wierded out by his mutters, his voice naming off other countries as if they were people. Odd... She continued to stand quietly, unsure of what she could do that may not offend the man.

"Um...sir, Alfred also sends a message with the box," She quickly remembered, thank god, her fingers fumbling through her jacket pockets to find the small envelope the elder man had been so keen on telling her to make sure it was delivered. "I really don't understand why, as he won't explain anything, but he said I need to deliver this to a man named Russia, and I do think that's you..." She slowly pulled out the small letter, wondering so oddly why they were all named after their country. Were they all like code names or something, part of a secret operation? At least her boss let her call him by his real name (not some odd code-thing of America. She had asked on multiple occasions why, but he always brushed it off, saying that everything they did was top secret and it was just part of it. And Suki, as taught as she was, believed him. After all, everything else she did as a secretary was shrouded in secrets, so it made sense for all the ambassadors to have such odd, vague names.)

Nodding, he confirmed,"Да, Я Россия." He had said that already... americans. "I am Russia. Really little girl, the English language has contorted my name." He started two cups of tea brewing and turned to the girl, attempting to mask his already growing unrest with a pained smile. If he just kept smiling...

He took the letter that she handed him, ripping open the envelope and unfolding the piece of paper inside. He squinted, confused as he tried to make out what it said. Was- was that cryllic? Russia grinned as he realized America had actually taken the effort (no matter how poor the outcome) to right in Russian, until he pieced together the broken cryllic and understood what it said. He didn't bother to hide the frown that appeared on his face.

_Hello Russia, The one writing this letter is America. Lithuania left his hair tie with Tony, the one I bought for him. Just wanted to let Lithuania look as cool as he could. I was thinking of putting - it switched to English- stars on it, but Tony said 'No one will confuse your flag colors with that fucking limey' and I agreed, so I left the hair tie as it was and sent Suki to return it to Lithuania. Hope it gets to him and this letter to you, or that Russian would have been wasted. Why is Russian hard to write? The cryllic alphabet is really hard to draw. -America. _

Of course America had left their names in English even in the beginning of the letter. Russia paled in comparison to Россия, and Lithuania wasn't nearly as cute as Литва.

The girl visibly winced at his tone, she starting to sense a great deal of tension growing in the air, and an even greater extent of it after he read that message. Was it something bad? She gulped, watching his once smile almost seem to melt into a depressing frown. Oh god, he looked really frightening when he frowned. The girl took another step back, feeling as if a darkened aura started to swallow her up, she finding so much pent-in aggression in the air that it was getting harder to breathe right.

"...I-I'm so sorry...Р-Pоссия...if I've offended you in any way, I suppose I need to get going back to my boss..." She stuttered, unsure what the message said that could be so horrible.

"You may not leave, Сукй," He stated darkly, but with a sweet smile he added," I made you чай." He handed her a cup of steaming tea, not particularly caring that the cup was to hot to handle, let alone some of it dripped over the side. "Cахар, that is, sugar," He said point to a cup of sugar cubes sitting in the middle of the table he went to sit at. "I have lemons and milk too," He added as he sat down. Noticing she hadn't followed, he ordered, using a gentle tone that held much malevolence behind it should she refuse," Join me."

The girl winced when the cup was almost literally shoved into her grasp, her hands only JUST getting over the cold before, and now having to put up with a piping hot cup of tea, some of it spilling over the side and onto her fingers. She almost yelped, but held back the sound, watching in a strange fear as the man gestured for her to follow and sit by him. She hesitated, unsure whether to take this strange tense hospitality with a smile, or with heavy caution.

With her fingers screaming for her to set the cup down somewhere, the girl decided to do both. "A-alright..." She muttered in a low voice, her feet already taking her to the table to sit down, she shaking her hands lightly after setting down the blazing hot cup of scalding tea. "Thank you for the tea...or чай i believe you called it?"

"Да, чай," He reaffirmed, happy that she was using the right word for it. He popped a sugar cube in his mouth, holding it between his front teeth and drank some tea. Setting his cup down with a giggle, Russia said," Сестра keeps telling me I should break that habit. I look like a merchant." He smiled as he crunched into the cube and washed it down with some more tea. He added sugar to his drink more conventionally, along with some lemon juiced and a little bit of milk. "Are you going to prepare your чай?" He asked expectantly.

"Oh Y-yes!" She stuttered, feeling hesitant, albeit cautious under those bright purple eyes. The girl slowly reached to put a sugar cube in her tea, along with a little bit of milk; she couldn't really place it, but there was something hidden in the air, something darker than what eyes could perceive. Maybe Suki was just being overly cautious, but she could've sworn that each time she looked in his purple eyes, that there was something, something so much more than the childish gleam they shone, something almost...malicious. She quickly put the thought out of her mind, finding it almost ridiculous; he had done nothing very mean to her (well, besides the hot tea in hands thing, but it could have been an accident...) so she simply continued to drink her tea, the normal way. "Well, to each their own, I suppose..." she tried to laugh, sipping at the slightly cooled drink.

Russia nodded and drank his tea quietly, his eyes shutting as to absorb the entire flavor from his tea. It was silent as they drank, but that was okay. Silent with someone in the room was so much better than lonely with no one like he had been dealing with the last few days. Abruptly the peacefulness was shattered along with his cup as he threw it at the table shouting," Он даже не признают мой флаг!" He watched the porcelain scatter everywhere, little shards splaying out and drifting slightly with liquid underneath carrying it a distance. With a smile he continued," An insult to my whole country, and he started it in my language..."

Suki shivered and stood up quickly when the small cup smashed, she taking a quick step back from the table so the shards wouldn't cut her at all. She gulped and frowned, her eyes wide with a slowly growing fear towards the odd man that was close to her. "W-well, my boss is quite a self-absorbed i-idiot sometimes..." She tried to explain, trying to understand what he was so suddenly worked over about. Was it something about that letter? Surely it was. Suki didn't understand what (Gosh, she loved to call him Alfred, or at least Mr. Jones so much more) could have said that would make this Russian man so fiercely angry, so abruptly, but it must have been horrible.

"...A-are you alright...?" She saw the shattered remains of the cup everywhere on the table, the hot steaming liquid running messily in all directions, soaking into the dark wood and dripping onto the floor. With a gulp of slight fear, she turned to look at the man, not entirely sure herself how to react.

He sat still, staring at the tea spreading and laughed lightly with an unreadable expression. "... Да... Did you know that in Ancient Greece, they had to pass a law where a person could not kill a messenger that held bad news? Funny, we're not is Greece, are we?" He asked quietly, looking up at Suki. His gaze saddened as he saw the fear in her eyes, but he forced a smile. He always smiled. He must.

Suki felt her blood almost turn to cold ice, his words shocking her to the very core of her body.

"N-no...I didn't k-know that..." She almost stopped breathing, taking another step back, away from the man, her mind on overdrive on what exactly he meant by saying such a thing. She wasn't sure what to do. Fear kept her mostly cemented in place, but her mind was screaming at her, trying to force her to get as far away from that odd, malicious, deep purpled-eyed man as physically possible, but she couldn't move at all. "And no..." She gulped, the fear starting to grow in her chest, making it almost impossible to breathe right, her heart beating in her ears. "We're not..." She wanted to run, wanted to be anywhere but there, anywhere but with that Russian man.

"Do not run Сукй, it's always worse. I don't want to have to teach you manners. Your boss is a cruel man, but I'm not," Russia said all of this as he stood up and walked over to his guest. She either listened to him or simply was too afraid to move, because she stayed exactly where she was. "That is a good girl," He praised her, grabbing on to her wrist tight enough it made a low clicking sound as the bones crunched together. "I don't want to think of Америка anymore," He stated, it was almost begging in tone.

Suki almost yelped in pain when she felt the strong grasp on her wrist, feeling her bones make low crunching sounds under the unbearable pressure of the large man's grip. It could have been far worse, she reckoned though, at least she still had her puffy winter coat softening the grip, if only slightly. Not knowing what else to sputter out, eyes suddenly shutting tight in pain and confusion, she spoke softly,

"Y-yes Mr.R-Россия," Almost slipping on his name, knowing that using her 'English' version of it would only make him that much more angry. She winced and slowly opened her eyes, confusion flooding them as she stared up at the large and intimidating figure, unsure and almost scared of what he was going to do next, hoping it would have nothing to do with teaching her 'manners'. The thought, for whatever reason, scared the young girl to her core.

"Let's have fun, Да? Американцы любят мороженое... Да, you like мороженое." He released her arm and went to the freezer, opening it and muttering," Коль кол кол кол. I'm out, Латвия didn't pick up any..." His widening smile clearly showed how angry with Латвия he was. He almost pitied the Baltic states when they came back. They hadn't been very good as of late. He turned back to her and asked," What would Сукй like to do?"

Not entirely sure what he was saying, exactly, Suki just stood there, unsure what to respond with, she idly rubbing her sore wrist, thankful to god that none of her bones were broken. "I-I don't know Mr.Россия," She finally stated, turning her eyes to the ground, not knowing what emotion of the man she was going to meet if she looked into those deep purple eyes. She felt odd and apprehensive under the Russian man's gaze, feeling as if the room was at the brim with confusing and fearful whispers. Wanting to get out of his gaze, if only for a few seconds to allow her to think right, the girl nodded lightly.

"I...I'm going to put my coat on the coat-hanger in the other room if that's alright, sir..." Without really waiting for a response, she started to walk towards where she had seen the coat-hanger. Though taking off her coat, almost a protective shield from his prior grip, was a really bad idea, the girl just wanted to break that stare, that odd deep glare that she felt could see right into her.

Russia frowned and called out her name. No! She was escaping! "Сукй may not leave!" Russia restated, following her quickly to catch up. She was just saying that she wanted to hang up her coat, she really planned on leaving. That must be it! He knew better, he wouldn't let her. With a bubbly cute voice he sinisterly said," I won't let you. Сукй must stay." This house was too large for her to leave him. Leave him here all alone. He grabbed at her wrist again (it happened to be the same one) though a little harder this time. He wouldn't let her leave.

Suki couldn't hold in the sound of her pain this time, being completely caught off-guard from the crushing grip that the large man held around her already sore wrist. "Ack!" She squealed out, biting her lip for the first few seconds of the fresh and unyielding pain. After a few moments, the girl taking deep breaths to rid herself of the most horrible crunching feeling against her bones, she slowly turned around to look at the man. She had told him that she was just putting away her coat, right? Why was he so hard-pressed about not letting her leave? She was feeling great combinations of fear, confusion, but an odd, growing sense of great curiosity for the other.

"I-I wasn't leaving sir, I promise...I was just putting away my coat because-" She stopped mid-sentence, her eyes looking up into his own. She saw it, small, but a really deep look of a child; a scared, lonely child. Unsure where in the world that had come from, the girl almost raised an eyebrow at the odd sight in that of a full grown man. Unsure why she bothered to say so, her voice straining with pain, she gave him a small smile. "I'm not leaving Mr.Россия. I promise." Suki didn't know why she even thought to say that, maybe it was because she was feeling a slight bit of sympathy for the man, or maybe it was just to get his murderous grip off her wrist. Either way, she didn't want to keep looking into those purple eyes right then. They made her feel sad and guilty for some reason, even though he was the one scaring and causing her pain.

Russia hesitantly let go, the deciding factor being that he could catch her if she was foolish enough to attempt to run away. He stared into her eyes, realizing the pain he just caused. He'd done it again. She wanted to leave, she definitely did. He averted his eyes and let her hang her coat up, taking solace in his sister's scarf as he still did from time to time. His bitter smile didn't cover anything, he knew that, but he smiled anyways, force of habit.

Slowly, the girl took off her heavy winter coat, walking only a little ways into the next room, still within the man's sight, and hung it up on the cold metal rod. Afterwards she walked back to the man, like she said she would, her wrist throbbing in pain from the godly grip. Suki was amazed that there weren't any broken bones in the limb...for then, at least. She slowly looked up, her orbs looking into the Russian man's own, wondering why he had so many sudden changes of emotion. She was frightened, it would be a flat-out lie to deny it so, if she had any choice in the matter, she wanted to leave and never need to think about it again.

But yet...there was something increasingly odd about the man, something that almost made the girl feel sad for him. She blinked and tried to smile, she hesitantly raising her uninjured hand to pat his arm, she having to fight every fearful instinct inside her to even attempt to do it. "S-see? I told you I wasn't leaving..." He acted like such a child, the girl was slowly realizing, like a young and lonely child. Maybe that was why he was so harsh about her leaving. Could that be? She didn't know for sure, but thought that for right then, that would be a suitable explanation.

Regarding the arm patting him with an enigmatic expression, he simply said," Хорошо. It would have been very foolish." He looked away then started walking in a random direction, not knowing what he was planning doing. All he knew was that while he wanted the woman to stay and be by him, he felt uncomfortable being right next to her without a reason. He sat down when he reached a chair, looking out the window it was positioned by. "Bad time for escaping anyways. Зима isn't very happy right now. He's whipping up a blizzard." With a small smile he considered that maybe Зима was simply helping him keep his guest. While he hated Зима, he also knew that he had to love him, he had raised him for a while and had helped him as much as hurt him.

"Зима?" She slowly asked at the odd word, walking into the large, spacious room the man had gone into. Though the girl did admit, she was scared as hell, she was also curious about this man and his odd, mysterious expressions, well that and she was afraid that he'd get angry and start claiming she was going to try and leave if she wasn't in his sight; she just wanted to be safe about it. She cautiously sat at another chair, feeling it's warm softness almost seep into her weary bones, achy from traveling so far in such cold weather. With an annoyed expression, she too looked out the window, seeing the whipping wind blow white snow back and forth.

"...I heard there was going to be a blizzard today. I guess I should be g-grateful that I didn't have to walk in THAT." She softly started, hoping to have some sort of normal conversation with the other, hoping that the break of silence might make her feel a little less edgy. "Though I should be used to such weather; we get similar storms every year back home..."

"Зима visits your home?" He asked, surprise making his voice a little high pitched, looking at with doubt. Then remembered she had just asked who Зима was. "He's... winter, that's the word, but it's more than that." When he pictured America, he thought of warm weather with envy, but if it was cold there too, obviously not quite to the same degree, but if it was cold there, then he could smile tonight, thinking of the blonde freezing to death. A real smile, one with actual joy. "Зима terrorizes America, да? That's nice to hear." He hummed in approval then looked back out to the snowstorm.

"Yes, it...he does visit where I live," She smiled, ignoring the last comment he made about 'America', most likely (and hopefully) referring to her boss, and not the country. "I live in the northern states, and it gets really cold in the winter. The prior year we had a lot of really bad snowstorms that damaged quite a bit of property, but one might say that I'm fairly used to it." The girl was happy that they could hold a semi-normal conversation, she sure that the kind exchange of words might help calm herself, and maybe bring out a nicer, lighter side to the man. He did seem so sad for some reason...

"Though our winters, or Зима as I believed they're called here, are harsh and cold, they can be quite beautiful at times..." She sighed, starting to incorporate the native language into her speak, hoping it would prove more polite than using English so much.

"He is beautiful, but you're right, harsh and cold, both in weather and disposition..." He whispered, not wanting Зима to hear. He glanced at Suki out of the corner of his eye, wondering what she was thinking about. "We shouldn't talk about him further, he might dislike it. Perhaps we should talk of other things that plague America? Such as his incompetence. Can't read cryllic, I speak fluent English and he can't write in Russian. Many languages... I can speak many, but he is favored by others and can barely speak his own..." Russia bitterly wondered what Литва saw in that fool.

"Perhaps his…country's-" there was a slight pause in his words, small enough where he half-hoped the girl wouldn't hear it. Or not. It wouldn't be his fault if the Capitalist Pig's little secretary girl found out about their secret. He was actually surprised she hadn't learned of it yet. Naïve, ignorant little American. "-impending death from rising as an empire so quickly without even doing hard work for it? Or how he…they, easily wastes 450 million centner, that's 100 billion pounds американский, of food when so many people in this world go hungry? How about we talk about consuming five times more than America makes for fuel? Manages to be racist even while banning dangerous drugs..." Russia said all of this with a smile, trailing off into a small laugh. Despite his apparent joy, it was far passed obvious, he hated the other country. Normally he didn't carry this much resentment, but with the letter earlier adding fuel (that America wasted frivolously by the way...) to the fire, he didn't exactly harbor any pleasant feelings towards the man, or the country he represented.

The girl spoke, understanding of the man's need to change the subject. Winter must have been a very touchy subject for him, as she could see how much more strong they are in Russia than they were in America. "Not all American's though are so...narrow-minded. I know many who are fluent in speaking and writing several languages, granted, it is a shame the majority don't ever really bother to learn one besides English..." as least that was a subject she could speak freely about, one she was knowing in to a degree.

"Though many of those other things I never knew about my country..." She laughed at his latter sentences, truly not knowing how incredibly lazy and wasteful her country could be, or even how her boss honestly added into the equation. Well, he was an ambassador of sorts (at least, that was how he worded it to the young woman) So maybe he did have more power than was shone…. "We do have some horrible tendencies, but we also have good ones as well." For some reason, Suki felt she had to defend her home somehow. "I'm not saying my country is the best of all, but we do have some nice habits."

"Нет, all America does is make his friends and foes suffer. That's a good reason for me to try and not get involved with him at all. Like the great depression he caused. Brought everyone's markets down, but I remained fine. Он является болезнью. Have you ever met England? Take him out drinking, and you'll hear all about it, and they're brothers.

He sticks his nose in other people's countries, and then pulls out. Like Вьетнам. Have you met her? She suffered terrible injuries because of him. And how many countries has he been instantly against for being communist?" Russia let his smile fall momentarily, but quickly made it return and fell silent. He hated talking about America. He wanted to change the topic, but didn't know how. How would someone bridge over from the previous topic being Vietnam getting brutally injured?

"...I do admit, we've made horrible moves as a country, things I can't believe we've done, yet we're told to be so proud that we're American. I don't agree with how we degrade someone because of their government, beliefs, or appearances, but I will admit that America is special, in it's own way. We are young compared to others, and still trying to become a land of free thinking and new ideas. We are the land of the free...and most times, the home of the idiots..." She finished, hoping that the last part of her mini rant would bring some sort of lightheartedness into the conversation. She knew very well of the downfalls her country had dealt with, and she really couldn't deny them. In fact, it was nice to hear the POV of another person who wasn't an American, though it was slightly hurtful to hear so many, mostly true, things against her country.

It was getting almost unbearably creepy though. How he was referring to her home nation as if….as if it was an actual person. It was growing hard to know if he was referring to her boss one moment, the entire country of America the next. Maybe it was the language difference. Yeah. His English wasn't as good as he let on.

"...Why are you all named that? After your country, I mean. You speak of these countries as if they are people..." Suki tried, wanting as well to change the conversation into a nicer, possibly lighter tone. "Is it some sort of government thing? I wouldn't be surprised if it is," She laughed, eyes shutting softly.

"Hmm? Named after our countries? You don't know you, do you?" Russia asked, surprised that she finally asked such a stupid, simple question. How did such a girl come to work for a man named America, get sent to find Lithuania, and talk to someone named Russia and not get it? "Я Россию. I am my country. You're working directly under your own country and didn't know it... Hasn't he ever said or done something that wouldn't make sense even if he was a hundred years old? He's dimwitted enough to forget to act twenty whatever." Every country had done it at one point of another, especially in their youth. Accidentally let on they've been a kid for a few decades, talk about an event like they were there (which usually they were) when it had happened a few hundred years ago, or survive an accident that without a doubt would have killed a human. Sometimes survive things that weren't accidents. Russia frowned, suppressing bad memories and shivers that wanted to come along with.

Suki was silent for a few minutes, trying to absorb the information that she was hearing correctly. A country? As a person? As much as the man seemed to be speaking the truth, she still found it hard to believe such a very large thing to understand. In a surprisingly calm voice, mostly because she still thought he was just joking or something, she said, "I did find it odd that you all were named after your country, b-but I thought it was like code-names or something, and Mr. Jones never really said anything that seemed otherwise…..Then again I didn't spend much time around him directly, and I wasn't allowed to read anything about the 'meetings' he held with him and others."

The girl tilted her head as she spoke, trying to make sense of the information. "Please don't find me being rude, Mr.Россию, but I just don't understand how such a thing would be able to be possible. How can a country be a person?" She sat politely, hands in her lap, eyes scrunched up as her mind attempted to wrap around the very confusing thought.

He thought over it for a bit and shrugged. "You have a president to represent your country, but he's human, he'll die in a couple of decades. We have a president, too, but he's human. Has such a short life ahead of him. We represent our countries, and have for many centuries, but I don't know how. You should ask Греция, I'm sure that he has thought about it," Russia said then added with a smile," We could probably beat it out of him if he didn't feel like talking or was asleep."

Suki blinked, and then smiled sheepishly at the man, the 'country'. "N..n-no thank you, I'd be far fonder of just talking..." She stuttered, her fingers almost unconsciously tightening around her hand, still lying in her lap. She looked down for a few moments as she started to really think about it. What if what he said was genuinely true? Then not only was her boss her actual country, but she was sitting in front of one of the strongest and largest nations that history had to give, Russia. She flinched lightly as she continued on that train of thought, wondering if the meetings her 'boss' attended also housed the other country-people. That would be interesting to ask him sometime. But the idea either way wasn't a very nice one. To live for all eternity?

"...I don't see though how that's a very good thing..." Suki started to whisper, her eyes still lowered. "To live forever? I wouldn't like it at all; have to live with past regrets and scars for all eternity seems more like hell than heaven," She slowly shrugged, unsure how the other really thought about his life.

Russia went silent, the aura around him darkening. A mere human had just summed up everything he hated about his existence. Over 1000 years of pain. In the old days, where ever a country happened to live with, be it a small township or a tribe, everyone there knew that they were different. The leaders of the area knew they were countries, or at least had an idea. Not everyone liked how their country was, when starvation hit or they were getting beat up by other countries, many thought it was directly their fault. They didn't understand, he just mirrored them, not the other way around. "Это не моя вина.," He whispered, a look of pained guilt. "Она не может быть моя вина. Я пытаюсь так сложно, как я могу." He brought his hands up to his neck, thankful the scarf was there to stop them from tracing ugly lines of suffering.

"M-Mr.Россия..." The girl asked, unsure of what was going on. Why had he suddenly gone from fairly happy, to miserable? The girl didn't understand where his crazy mood-swings came from. Maybe that was a country thing? Well, one way or another, she felt worried for him, her mind trying to wrap around what he had said, though not understanding a single syllable. "Mr.Россия, a-are you alright?" She asked kindly, standing up and walking over to him, despite her instincts telling her against it. He just seemed so sad; a sad little child, and Suki's maternal instincts, as strong as they were (though almost never for the better of her) wanted to see if there was any way she could help. She slowly sat on a chair that was closer to the man, feeling the dark air of strenuous aura get even stronger. What horrors had this man, as a country, gone through?

"It's not my fault, do you understand? I've been trying my hardest, but everyone hates me!" He leaned forward, grabbing her shoulders and shaking them once. "Вы? Вы?" His grip on her was bordering hard enough to cause discomfort, but wasn't quite there. Still holding her, he smiled and said," But of course you would say yes, no one ever says it to my face. They only stab me in the back, make alliances with others to oppress me, and such, да?" His voice kept that same light, happy tone it always managed to, creating eerie dissonance from the dark undertone it carried.

"Hey, hey now!" She spoke, startled, his sudden movements taking her back slightly, even more so when he started babbling on with that smile on his face, that tone combined with the normally seen 'happy' expression making it all the more intimidating and almost frightening. "I never said it was..." She mentally continued to berate at herself, almost regretting getting so close to him when she already had hints to tell how physically strong, and mentally unstable this man, this, this COUNTRY could be. She put one of her hands over his, feeling his grip on her shoulder grow more and more uncomfortable, feeling his fingers start to dig into her back.

"Though I'm still confused about all this, I never would think it your fault..." Her mind was running miles a second as she tried to think carefully about the words before they were out her mouth. History was never one of her strong-suits, and trying to think of a way to speak that wasn't going to offend, anger, or depress the country further was very, very hard. "I...I really don't know much to really help, M-Mr.Россия. I can say though that from what I've h-heard about your country, you don't really deserve much of what you got...i-it's not your fault..."

His grip tightened until he whispered," Вы понимаете?" Still keeping his hands resting on her shoulders, he relaxed his grasp. He looked down, hiding his sad expression. Her hand was warm on his. The tenseness in it, the obvious want to claw at his own hand made him stop. She had not wanted to hurt him, even though she wanted him to stop so badly. "Ты не должен быть американцем. Вы не можете быть," He said slowly, then switched over to mostly English after remembering she didn't know Russian," You understand, дa? Xорошо. Very good for you, very good for me."

Feeling his hands relax their grip, the girl let out a small, but completely relieved sigh. He had such a powerful and tough grip, she was sure there was going to be quite a bit of bruising there, the skin and muscle already screaming in dull ache because his hands were applying the simple pressure of just laying there. "That's...uh, good...good..." She spoke, not knowing really what else to say.

It would have been an understatement to say she was afraid of the man, but also an understatement to say she was curious, about him, about countries being people, about everything. Though she hadn't understood exactly what he had said, there was one word the girl managed to pick out. "а-aмериканцем...?" she repeated, pronunciation a little bit slurry, but understandable. "American?" Oh god, Suki really wished she could speak Russian, or at least had a handier translator than an iPod with her.

"Да. американцем is 'american'." He removed his hands, pulling them into crossed arms that looked almost defensive. Like they were closing him off from the dangerous, or at least unwanted, outside. He sat in his chair looking miserable, gazing out the window and not seeming to acknowledge the other presence in the room after a minute or so. He mumbled a few things in Russian, but they weren't recognizable to a non-Russian speaker.

What was wrong with this man? He suddenly went from loud and almost accusing, to shy and quiet? Suki blinked, the whirlwind of emotional swings about to give her a mental whip-lash, only adding on to the pain in her wrist, and growing ache in her shoulders. Had she said something wrong? Yeah, maybe that was it. She had said something that had upset the man, maybe something rude in his culture that she wasn't understanding. She tried to reason with her idea, hoping that the thought was the explanation for why he was acting so strangely since she arrived at his house. Well, surely an apology would help, right? She was about so say it simply, 'I'm sorry,' but the girl held back. Yeah, burst into his home, start speaking her own language, and then apologize in that very same, probably rude language? That would be the insult to injury, the young girl figured.

Quickly and quietly, she grabbed the small iPod out of her pocket while the man seemed to be enthralled with the outside blizzard, and translated the small words, watching as they transformed into his own dialect. She looked at the foreign words, sounding them out in her head before speaking.

"М-Mне жаль, Mr.Россия...If I've offended you in any way..." Her mouth curled around the odd words, hoping that she pronounced them alright enough.

Interest peaked in Russia and he turned his head to partially look at the girl who was brave enough (perhaps stupid enough) to sit close to him. "это нормально," he responded, the surprise clearly audible in his voice. Then with a smile added,"Спасибо, for using my language, even if it had an отвратительно американский accent." Thinking for a bit, he hummed approval and more instructed than asked," You would like some водка, дa?"

Suki blinked. водка. That was a word she knew, though she never really liked the stuff; too bitter, too strong. She had tried it once and nearly spat it out on the spot (which had amused her family, the ones who had ushered her into trying it on her twenty-first birthday), the taste having been far too strong for her. But he was being kind enough to offer it, and she really didn't want to seem rude, so she couldn't just flat-out reject the offer.

"I-I don't think I could, I'm underage for drinking," She lied, the girl deciding that to be a more polite way to decline his offer, since, it was…sorta true, she legally couldn't drink anything in some contries, moreso a drink as strong as водка.

"Ерунда, you only need to be of legal age to buy водка here," He said. "Don't worry глупый американский, you can drink as much as you want." He got up and went to the kitchen, returning with an ornamented bottle and matching glasses, both glasses and Handing her one as he sat down, he said," These are my favorite чашки, they don't make them any more though." He poured водка into them, letting the liquid get as close to the top as he could. "Чтоб все были здоровы," He happily sang before bringing the glass to his lips and chugging its contents. He refilled his glass and set the decanter down carefully by his feet..

"O-Oh...I didn't know that..." She said with a forced happiness. Well, that was just swell. No drinking age. There goes that polite gesture of rejection. With a disdained look, Suki looked at the glass set in front of her, wondering how she could possibly find another way to decline. Her eyes quickly flickered up to the Russian man, then down again to the small shot glass in front of her. Oh to hell with it, she decided, hand reaching for the glass. It was only to be polite, she finally decided, tipping the glass to her lips, feeling the strong and bitter liquid trickle down her tongue and throat.

The overly-powerful taste filled her mouth, mind wanting nothing more than to spit it out, rid herself of that vile taste, but she bit back the feeling, quickly drinking the shot down. After shivering from the flavour, the girl quickly set the glass back down, forcing a kind smile on her face. "Very...interesting..." She managed to say. "I-I don't drink at all, so it's a little strong for me..."

Russia laughed and said," Да, I can tell." He drained his second glass a little slower, letting his favorite drink rest on taste buds for a second. "Who knew американцы couldn't down water?" He giggled at his own joke and seriously (well as seriously as a childish voice enjoying ones self got) said," I forgot snacks. You can't fully enjoy водка without snacks."

He left again, returning this time with a few bowls that contained different snacks in each. "Pickled mushrooms, herring, ham, and пирожки," he listed as he set them down on the little table by them, grabbing a pickled mushroom and popping it into his mouth. The пирожки were like small buns stuffed with mashed potatoes, dill and green onion.

"Th-thank you very much," Suki spoke kindly, reaching for the ham and munching on some. "Though I don't understand what was so funny about the last thing Mr.Россия," She tilted her head slightly in curiosity, feeling the last ounces of the drink's flavor leave her tongue. With a small movement, the girl pushed her empty glass forward, hoping that it would be a polite way of saying she didn't want to drink any further, the young girl finding it a lot easier just to slowly eat the more appealing food that was offered. "What do you mean by that, exactly?" She wasn't sure whether to find it amusing, or insulting.

"Hmm? Just that американцы generally have weak stomachs," Russia explained, seeing that she pushed forward an empty glass and pouring her another glass. "This is like water to me~! Though much better than water, да?" He chugged down another glass of his own, and took a пирожки with a smile. He finished the small pie then asked," If you don't drink, how do you digest snacks well? More importantly, how do you have fun?"

Suki almost groaned, watching him fill up her glass again. That...wasn't exactly the outcome she was hoping for. "Well, I never thought of drinking as particularly fun..." She muttered under her breath, slowly reaching for the glass of clear liquid, wincing at the growing pain and ache of her shoulders. "You can have fun in other ways too, Mr.Россия, like watching movies or playing games and such." She shrugged as she suggested such, her face nearly spasming into unrelenting pain from doing so. NOT a good thing, she mentally noted, sighing. With a final bite on her lip, the girl quickly downed the second glass, this time keeping the glass close to her, not wanting in any way to indicate she wanted another.

"Да, you can, but those are more fun with водка," He brushed off her idea of 'drinkless fun'. He smiled and grabbed some herring. "You do not want more?" He asked innocently, then followed it up with," Funny, the saying on your чашкa translates to 'Not to drink means not to like your host!'." He left his gaze drift to her and stared at her with a sad, dejected look, as if she were stabbing him in the heart.

The girl looked at him, and then at her glass. "W-that's, n-eh..." She sighed, rolling her eyes lightly and then pushing the glass forward. Her stomach was already feeling funny, but she hated seeing those eyes, those bright purple eyes when they were filled with such sadness. It almost made her feel incredibly guilty. "I guess one more glass wouldn't hurt...да?" She reckoned, using the word she was starting to recognize in hopes that it might make him less sad. "It has nothing to do with you Mr.Россия, I-I do like you, it's just I don't think my stomach could handle so much водка..." the girl tried to quickly explain, deciding that stuffing her mouth with a piece of ham might make things less awkward for her to try and explain.

"Да, one more glass will never hurt," He agreed with a smile, he loved that she used 'да', it showed she care. He liked that she cared... It made him feel special. "Mine says 'Let's drink another one'," Russia said as he filled her glass to the top, so that if it was bumped it would spill. If someone was going to limit themselves to one last glass of vodka, he would never be so cruel to skimp on how much they received.

She laughed, actually feeling a little less awkward around the man. "Then I guess you can't deny what the glass says, да?" she giggled, watching as he filled the glass to the brim. With a roll of her eyes and a small smile, she brought the cold glass to her lips, again downing it with a grimacing face, though luckily, the taste didn't seem as bad as the first or second glass. Maybe that was because she didn't feel so cautious or something. Well, either way, she felt happier with how things were winding out, the complete opposite aura than when she had first arrived.

"You've been very hospitable to me, Mr.Россия," The girl spoke, slyly taking out her iPod to look at the translation screen. "Cпасибо." She smiled, her head starting to feel a little dizzy, but she merely brushed it off as having one too many drinks.

"Нет, there's no denying the чашкa sayings." When she thanked him in his language, he giggled and replied," Всегда пожалуйста." He smiled and refilled his glass, his cheeks rosy. "Сукй likes Россия, да? If she doesn't you can drown very easily on водка, it's an absolutely terrible way to go." His smile seemed even bigger, as he explained," Not only do you feel like your drowning, you feel the burning of the alcohol spreading like, hmm, wildfire. Да, wildfire. Your lungs give out eventually, but not soon enough. You actually wish to die as quickly-" He cut off, seeing her look of horror. "It's not a fun experience," He wrapped up with a cute expression, but the manifested depression showed through.

"U-uh, yeah, I d-do like Россия..." She trailed off awkwardly, gulping slightly at his ending words, her mind ablaze at such a horrible death one might ever have to endure. It took the girl a few seconds to get over such a descriptive thought, she wincing horribly for any who ever had to go through it. "Hey..." She said softly as she looked up at the man, easily seeing that odd look of sadness even through his apparently 'happy' exterior. The movement of her head, although small, almost made her feel a little dizzy, she feeling slightly light-headed. The girl took a small breath to level herself, finding that the водка had hit her far more than she really wanted.

"A-are you alright?" staring up at the man, Suki tilted her head, wondering what it was then that had made him so sad. They were just happy a few seconds ago, happy and sharing a good drink together. What all went through that man's head?

"Я чувствую себя ужасно! Why do you keep asking me that?" He asked, pounding the table with his fist, the small cup shattering in his hand. "Нет! My чашка, this set was my favorite..." His eyebrows dipped in sorrow and his eyes got glassy with tears threatening to spill. "Почему? Why did you break it?" He asked, accusation dripping in desolation. He threw the shards at Suki and cried out," Look what you made me do!" His hand was bloody and smeared through his hair as he grabbed at his head. "It's not my fault! It's yours, it's not mine!"

The girl yelped in surprise, she quickly jumping out of her seat to avoid too much injury from the glass. With wide eyes, she looked at him in utter fear, the terror quite evident in the bright orbs. Feeling like a child who had just been wrongly scolded (minus the nearly getting cut-up with glass part) she exclaimed, "B-but I didn't b-b-break it!" her eyes almost starting to fill with tears of fright, the girl took a step back, away from that odd, obviously angry, man.

She winced, feeling small trickles of ruby blood trail down her cheek where the glass actually had cut her. As much as she said she wasn't going to before, Suki's only thought right then was running. She wanted to go home.

"You wont leave, you promised!" He warned, seeing her eyes dart to look at the door. He stood up, taking a heavy step towards her. She was going to run away! "You promised!" He stumbled backwards, but caught himself with his hand grabbing onto the chair behind him. He gritted his teeth as the the hand bared more weight. Glass was still in it and worse, it had vodka burning through each small cut, but that didn't matter. She was going to run. "Пожалуйста! Please don't leave!" He begged, grabbing the glass she had been drinking from and throwing it at her. It hit her in the shoulder, splaying and cutting her on the chin and chest.

Pain. Pain coursing through every heartbeat, the shards of glass easily cutting through the fabric of her shirt, and straight into her skin. Luckily for her, the shards were fairly big, so they didn't go too deep. The bad thing was that there were big red cuts on her upper chest, across the collar bone, all the way up her neck and to her chin. Feeling the stabbing pain from the glass, blood already dripping out the wounds like dark red paint, Suki collapsed onto the floor, she quickly in defense rolling into a ball. She sobbed in a combination of horrendous fear and immeasurable amounts of pain.

Approaching the woman slowly, not wanting to frighten her, Russia kneeled and picked her up in his arms embracing her small frame. His arms wrapped around the shoulders and in front, just below her neck. "Ну хорошо, you wont be leaving," He said jovially, squeezing her like a teddy bear, then sitting more comfortably and relaxing his grip to a concerned friend's kind of hug, still maintaining enough pressure that she couldn't freely escape. "Сукй, you shouldn't do that to me. You worried me. It's a good thing that I stopped you from leaving. Without that, you could have been harmed out there." The worst thing was the honesty he put into his words, he fully believed he was helping her.

There was far too much pain, too much fear and confusion for her to speak at first. Suki continued to sob, though more quietly, and to herself when she felt those arms, the same ones that had hurt her several times beforehand, wrap around her and hold her as if she was a teddy. She flinched and stuttered her sobs, her body trying to struggle, but ultimately having to give up, body going completely limp. The pain was too much, her shoulders started to ache, her wrist scream, her bloody wounds throb as they bled out more and more. "...Мне жаль ... Мне жаль ..." She sobbed, just barely remembering the words. But what; what was she even sorry for? For trying to escape without getting herself killed? For being frightened to the core of that...that madman? But yet she was still speaking it, it sounding almost like a chant, a beg.

"Мне жаль ... please just don't...don't hurt me..." She broke off in a sob, not wanting to pull away from his arms in fear he'd retaliate, but not wanting to nuzzle closer for the same reason. Suddenly, she started to feel increasingly dizzy, as if the world had suddenly been spun on its axis, her head light and feathery, stomach flipping. The girl groaned in a combination of this new and horrid feeling, and of that of already existing pain.

"Shh, shh, It's okay, I know you're sorry," He cooed, rocking her gently in his arms. "I never hurt you, I'm just protecting you. Keeping you with me. Keeping you safe." The sweetness of his voice was equivalent to his words being dipped in honey with sugar sprinkled on top. He nuzzled the top of her head and smiled. "Neither of us will be alone. We have each other." That thought made him happy. He hated being alone. He hated this mansion, being so large, so empty, devoid of life, when he was alone, all by his solitary, isolated, lonesome self.

The girl continued to sob, but more quietly. How; how could this man hurt her so badly, and then go around saying that he was PROTECTING HER? The thought was so confusing to Suki, she didn't bother pondering on it, her head already hurt, trying to decipher all the different levels of emotion and pain she was feeling. Her wounds stung so bad, starting to throb more with the remnants of vodka seeming to soak into them, making them scream and cry in terror and agony. Yet the feelings were so opposite, as the girl could also certainly hear his sweet words, almost sickly sweet as they flowed into her ears, his soft and oddly caring hold around her shoulders, his soft nuzzling to the top of her head; the combination of extreme made the entire thing in the girls head so unearthly, so incredibly eerie, she only wanted to go home. But yet she wanted to stay...oh god the mixture of fear, protection, pain, confusion and an odd sense of curiosity (how the hell was that emotion still there anyways!) forced the girl's body to simply stay limp in the country's arms, not fighting, not accepting.

"Hmm? My Сукй seems tired, да? Must have been a long flight to Матушка Россия, it's okay, я понимаю." He stood and held her bridal style, humming and walking to a guest bedroom. "You like flowers, да? Хорошо." He took the liberty of answering for her any question he asked. "I like sunflowers... I wish to live in a warm place with sunflowers..." He went up some stairs, then turned left. "Моя старшая сестра national flower is the sunflower... Моя ... Другая сестра, is flax." Going down the hallway, he took a door on the right and set foot into a beautiful room.

The room had walls of sky blue with pictures of sunflowers adorning them. An elaborate chandelier hung from the ceiling, twinkling dimly as he turned the lights on. The draperies were white with intricate lace designs and hung from silver rods that were ribbed and had ornate swirls at the ends. The bed was at least king sized and had silk bedsheets, a deep ocean blue in color, and many throw pillows, each one embellished with different twisting designs. The pillows were dark, almost black, towards the outside, but as they got closer to the middle, they got lighter in color.

He set her on the bed and pulled up a chair, sitting on it and facing Suki. "You would like company untill you fall asleep, да?" He smiled and patted her shoulder. "I'll be here for you, don't worry."

Not bothering to fight when she was lain onto the soft, extremely soft bed, the girl whimpered in pain. Her body ached, and she wanted nothing more right then to sleep; she couldn't fight, couldn't run, so she chose the next best option, her mind already starting to hum in and out of consciousness. She barely heard all of what Russia was speaking about, vision and hearing getting more and more blurry, but when he patted her on the shoulders, which were growing sorer with every second of passing time, one could be certain she heard each one of his final words.

She whimpered again, already feeling his never-ending gaze on her body. Luckily, her wounds had already clotted up, so bleeding to death was no longer a worry. But with him just sitting there, watching her as she crawled into the covers to sleep away the pain, the girl couldn't help but shiver in fear. Even if she could have, the girl didn't respond to him, simply laying with her back to the man, and her eyes quickly closing, craving sleep to embrace her and take her away from it all; from the pain, the fear, from everything, and just let her sleep.

Her breathing calmed and he smiled, she must be so comfortable to sleep so easily. Getting up and checking she was indeed asleep, he hummed in approval and walked to the closet in the room (well, one of the three...) and opened the door. Accessing the miniature room in it's own right, he looked through the clothes hanging up. They were some of Ukraine's clothes for when she came to visit, he really wished she would visit more... Looking back at Suki, then back to the clothes, he decided they were too tall for his guest, and too... busty, as well.

He closed that closet and walked to the room over, it had a much more classic gothic feel to it. Entering a closet in that room, he found a soft green dress with many frills and lace embellishment. He had no clue what size his guest was, but Belarus wasn't very tall, so her dress should fit Suki, right? He was about to leave the room, but paused. He didn't know what his guest liked to wear when it came to dresses. To be on the safe side and make sure she liked what he provided, he picked two more dresses at random, a black one and purple one. There, that should be good. Placing them at the foot of her bed, he smiled and left for his own room.

Her dreams were empty and expressionless, like a cloudy night, cold and without feeling. Wind was scarce in her mind, the cold night air without a single breeze to think of, the darkness scaring the girl more than anything else could. To say the least, she didn't get a very good sleep.


	2. Breakfast in Hell, Or a Place like it

_**Chapter 2: Breakfast in Hell...Or a place like it.**_

_**(Завтрак в ад ... Или место нравится.)**_

When she awoke, the girl didn't move. She found herself laying on a large, yet very comfortable bed, her body aching, limbs limp, but all the more alright. She quizzically turned her head left and right to look around, finding herself in quite a large room, all alone, the quiet and silence filling the air like an overflowing glass of water. "...w...what...h-happened...?" She whispered to herself, wondering. Slowly, Suki started to sit up on the bed, pushing back the dark warm covers that were on top of her body, reaching one hand up to touch her head. When she did so, the girl quickly halted her motions, a stabbing ache vibrating through her form, shoulder rejecting the movement. Then, as if the pain was some sort of alarm, the memories of the prior day began to flood back, reminding her of all the horrible things she had dealt with and the fact that no, she wasn't at home, sleeping peacefully in her own bed.

"Ouch..." She whimpered silently, slowly reaching her hand to her neck to feel all the small clotted cuts along her skin, having to fight through another wave of pain from her shoulder. She didn't feel any glass, so with that, she could at least sigh in relief. And the vodka that got in the wounds would have certainly cleaned them, so that wasn't a problem either, thank the lord. Then, with an agonizing yelp, she giving it all she could, the girl started to stumble out of the bed, eventually getting onto her feet and leaning against one of the rods on the extravagant bed, and staring at the foot of said furniture with wide eyes.

Dresses? Did the man expect her to wear one of them? Staring down at the colorful and frilly clothes, the girl laughed with a bitter frown. They looked more like they were for a princess, not for somebody that madman claimed he was 'helping' when he nearly killed them, several times she had to add. No, she wasn't going to wear one; she wasn't going to please him in his odd and freakish mindset. The girl would have crossed her arms at the final thought, but her shoulders protested the action, so she decided to huff and half-stomp her foot. But...the girl looked down at the clothes she was wearing, seeing how cut-up, stained, and otherwise ruined they were...Well, it was either her pride, or facing the wrath of the man if he were to walk in and find her not wearing the dress...Her face going dark at painful memories, the girl quickly decided she'd much rather give up her pride.

Russia prepared two cups of tea, nice black tea with citrus flavor, putting milk on the table by them. He smiled, and then froze, looking back at his kitchen. He would have to make the elaborate breakfast if he wanted it for his guest. It was so much easier when Lithuania was here... Russia shook his head, deciding that he would just have to do it. He didn't often cook for himself, beyond the easy dish here and there, relying on the Baltics, and if they weren't there, just making simple and easy to prepare food. Блины was simple enough.

He mixed some eggs with milk, added a little salt and some flour, and mixed that until he had a nice batter. Greasing the pan first, he poured a thin layer of batter and let it start cooking, keeping a close eye on it. Блины didn't take very long. He got out some salmon and butter, letting her have a bit of a choice of what to put on it. Remembering she was American, he grabbed some jam. That wasn't as traditional, but it would be fine, and sweeter like what they thought of when thinking of pancakes.

With a final glare at the dress that held the most appeal to her, the black one, the girl sighed and reached for it. It was pretty Suki had to admit. The lace was professional, the fabric soft, and design absolutely perfect, it seemed. If she didn't need to wear the clothing under such dreary circumstances, the young teen would have proven far happier, but unfortunately she hadn't much of a choice in the matter anymore. With painful, slow, and agonizing movements, she removed her ruined clothing, stripping down to her undergarments before she took another look at the dress, laying so beautifully on the bed. As she started to put it on, the girl thought, hoping that would distract her from the horrendous ache and pain striking through her body. She wondered where Russia would get such dresses. A wife perhaps? No, he didn't have a wedding ring, and she doubted with the country-thing that he'd really be married. A sister? Yes, a relative seemed far more likely, though the thought didn't really help much; they were probably as crazy as him then...

With one last sigh, zipping up the back and staring down at herself, the girl exited the room not to bother with her old clothes laying on the floor. She tiptoed through the vast house, wondering where and what she was then to do. Then, she heard noise, coming from downstairs. With a curious blink, she followed it, until she came near the kitchen, peering around the corner wall to see Russia in an almost shyful fashion.

Russia turned around when he noticed the girl had come. "Ну хорошо, it does fit you. That is Беларуси dress. I made you a cup of tea," He said all of this sweetly and smushed together as if it was one thought, continuing after pause to check on the food he was cooking," Я делаю блины... I hope you like them." He started flipping them. "Беларусь will probably kill you if she finds out I let another woman wear her clothes, so I would stay silent about that. She doesn't like guns, and much prefers knives. Not a very quick killer," He said in the same manner he had mentioned tea.

With a gulp of fear lacing her thoughts, Suki decided that indeed, it was from a female relative and yes, she was as crazy as Russia. Without a response towards what he had said just so sweetly about her immanent death should she let this 'Беларусь' woman know, the teen sighed and sat at the table, staring at the tea that was on the table, steaming hot. She simply looked at the cup as she thought, the dress feeling foreign and odd on her body, like it had a mind of it's own and was planning to kill her (which, seeing how much of this odd family was crazy, it could have been). Then, after a few seconds of silent thinking, she reached painfully for the cup, bringing it to her lips to so very slowly sip at it, not wanting to burn herself on the hot scalding liquid. The air around her was tense, her body so cautious with that man in vicinity, the girl like a boxed up cat, scared and frightened with him being so close to her.

With a satisfied smirk, Russia took the блины off the pan and dished it up onto two plates, splitting the three servings equally. Making sure all the topping choices were at the table, he brought the two plates over and served breakfast. Sitting in his spot, he put some salmon on one and started eating. He looked expectantly at her, waiting for her to start eating. He really wanted her to like it...

With a internal groan, Suki stared down at the food she was served. The sight of it almost made her stomach churn horribly, she not wanting to take a bite out of anything right then, after all the trauma her body had suffered the day before. But, with a quick peer upwards to see Russia's face, eyes staring at her, the girl's heart almost stopped. Not wanting him to do anything at all with his deranged and odd sense of logic about her manners, she hesitantly grabbed the fork in one hand (painfully I might add; she had to force herself not to show how much of a pain it was to actually lift her arm) and ladled some jam on the breakfast with the other. After a small sigh, praying her stomach wouldn't do any unneeded things, she started to nibble on the food. She forced herself a smile at tasting the sweet food. "I-...it's v-very good, Mr...Mr.Россия..." the food was good, truthfully, her stomach just didn't want to eat much of anything in general.

Seeing her barely nibble at her food, Russia felt a pang of hurt twinge in his heart. "You don't like my food, да?" He smiled, staring at the блины. "I- I made it just for you... Why do you lie to me? I can, I can take the truth... I made блины just for you..." His grin widened, but there was nothing happy about it.

"OH nonono!" Suki quickly stated, dropping the fork and raising her hands in defense. "I really do like it Mr.Россия, i do. I just have an upset stomach f-from last night is all..." She smiled largely, trying to sound as convincing as absolutely possible, feeling that dark aura around him get that much darker.

He looked from her блины to her eyes, his own eyes radiating suspicion. She didn't like it and was just toying with her emotions, wasn't she? She was American, of course she was. "No one gets an upset stomach from three glasses of Водка- You're lying to me. You're afraid to admit you hate it. Why is Сукй lying?" The undertone of his light voice gave away dark emotions already clearly felt in the air, but the pained smile never left his face. "Кол Кол Кол Кол Кол..."

"I'm n-not lying sir, I swear...*groan*..." Her mind on overdrive, feeling that dark aura grow only larger, and even darker, Suki started to nearly panic. "K-keep in mind since I'm also American...*groans in nausea*...I-I can't keep my alcohol down real well..." She frowned and her eyes grew wide in fear again, the emotion not mixing well at all with the headache and nausea that was already starting to grow from her core. Oh god that was starting to hurt. "Ugh..." She groaned, having to close her eyes in pain, the growing climatic air of the situation only stressing her out and making her feel that much worse.

Russia contemplated this and then said," Да, я полагаю, you cannot help it." He relaxed and leaned back in his chair, eating a little more, then adding," Don't worry, we have plenty of time, да? Зима has struck harshly this week. Сукй can take her time eating it all." He was in no rush, the blizzard outside was still going, she couldn't leave if she wanted to now, not with over two feet of snow on the ground. At least she couldn't leave and live. His smile grew bigger, and for once not menacingly so, at this thought. He had company that not only promised to stay, she must.

With a relieved sigh, Suki felt glad that she had managed to escape from that situation. But his words deeply worried her. "P-plenty of time?" She worriedly asked, nursing at the food in front of her, as much as her stomach protested and head pounded. "What d-do you mean?" She gulped, wondering how long she was going to be forced to stay in that house. But what about going home? She felt homesick the second the had stepped off that plane in Moscow, and then this on top of it? Without waiting for his answer, she groaned again in slight pain from her stomach, putting down the fork and pushing the plate of half-eaten food from her. "I-I'm f-full..." Slowly, the girl layed her head down on the table, eyes closing as her headache gained painful momentum.

"Нет. Это нонсенс.You haven't eaten your full breakfast yet, да? You can't be full." He cleared his plate and drank some more tea, patiently waiting for her to finish. He sat and watched her to make sure she ate. He couldn't have her starve. It was cold out and he hadn't stoked his fireplace yet today, that meant it would take extra energy to keep warm. Remembering her first question, he explained," Зима has given us at least 70 centimeters of snow... Ehh, американский, that is around two feet and four inches, да? With the temperature being negative thirty Celsius... hmm, negative twenty-two Fahrenheit, да? That cold and you wouldn't make it to town before dying, да? Don't worry, you can stay with me."

Oh god, why, WHY? Was he laughing at her? Some holy sick joke to keep her in the same house as that man? For how long? Suki knew that a blizzard in Russia could last a long time, a very, very long time. And at those tempuratures, she had to agree with the country that she'd freeze to death before she'd make it through the small patch of forest and into town. About to cry at her dismal sittuation, she instead wanted to forget about it, and looked at her food, then back to the large man.

"B-but I'm full Mr.Россия sir..." The girl smiled sheepishly at him, trying her damnedest to ignore the stabbing ache in her belly, the mere thought and smell of food, really testing her ability to keep from tossing her cookies. She knew by this point he was going to insist her needing to finish, and, praying to the gods, she quickly added. "R-remember, I'm far smaller than you, so I have a smaller...eh...tummy, so I don't eat as much..." She groaned again. "Please sir, I really feel sick, I can't eat anymore..." Maybe begging might have a more positive effect, the girl decided. To hell with her pride, she figured.

"I'm not large, little girl, I am big-boned," he retorted. The last person to make that mistake ended up with a broken arm and wrenched shoulder (incidentally, it happened to be France trying a pickup line... He explained shortly afterward that he meant 'big' in another department while screaming in pain). His stare increased in intensity, not so pleasant anymore. "Surely you meant you were just too tiny and insignificant to eat a small breakfast, да?" He let his smile subside a little and nodded to himself.

"Y-YES SIR!" Suki squealed in fear, shrinking back in her chair. The girl never meant it in such an offensive way, but unfortunately, the country had taken it so. She prayed that it wouldn't make her regret it, with more aches and pains in her body. Oh how badly she was swallowing her pride though, having to sink lower and lower on the scale of humbleness. But it was for good reason, she decided; with this man, you either ate all your pride, or died stubbornly. Being a bit of a coward that she was, always hating confrontation, Suki decided she'd just have a nice hot helping of pride stew instead. "М-Mне жаль, sir, I only meant it in the way that you're older than me!" She quickly added. "Th-Those who are older usually have a larger ap-appetite, д-да...?" She was nearly shaking in fear at this point.

Russia hummed approval and laughed," Да... Да, much older. Over a thousand years, little girl." He lost his grin as he thought about the past. So far back. The 9th century was so far back, dark in his mind of so much history, and it never got brighter. Even now, memories being within the recent decades, were so depressing. Staring at his cup of tea disconsolately, he muttered some Russian, then tagged on a little English for her benefit," It is a long time. A very long time..." His voice was low, working too hard to keep it from cracking to charge it full of fake happiness.

"Wow..." Suki honestly didn't know what to say; on one hand, she saw how sad the country looked, but yet, the memories of what had happened the last time she asked what was wrong still reeling in her mind. Then, on the other hand, she couldn't just leave the other feeling so horrible, pondering on the dark things that seemed to flash across those near-mesmerizing purple eyes. Hoping to meet somewhere in the middle, she hesitantly reached a hand out, fearfully and hesitantly laying it on his arm, patting it lightly with a bitter smile on her face. Hopefully that wouldn't enrage him, and she'd walk away from the dining table without any new wounds.

His eyes tracing the hand to its owner, he stared into her eyes and whispered," It's not my fault. It's not my fault the Kipchaks tormented us. It's not my fault... And I didn't cause the Mongols to invade... Poor crops weren't caused by me..." Holding her hand with his, he continued," None of... I couldn't control any of it, but my leaders needed someone to blame. I was the only one you see... but it wasn't my fault...!" His gentle hold steadily increased to a painful vice grip. "I never... I never wanted my people to go through famine. I never wanted... wanted any of my people to die... But they accused me. It never changes. I'm always to blame, but it isn't my fault!" Tears gathered in his eyes. "I go through so much hardship, but no one ever cares. No one cares about me."

Biting her lip against the increasingly crushing pressure over her hand, Suki began to feel more and more sorry for the man, or country as she was really starting to realize, that sad in tears in front of her. She blinked, taking the words deeply to heart. The people thought he was to blame? That...that wasn't fair. She sympathized with him, her mind trying to take apart and analyze all the information about his past that he was muttering, watching in heart-wrenching pain as he grew more and more miserable. She had to say something, had to help in some way; she couldn't just...just let him feel so bad?

But he hurt her, many times, she knew. Yet...Suki couldn't place it, but she could almost...almost forgive him, as crazy as she knew it sounded. If he had gone through this much over a whole millennia, then maybe his actions could be forgiven, right? With a deep breath, she tried to will away the crushing pain in her hand, trying to find the honest and right words to tell him. "I...I don't see how it could even be y-your fault Россия," She started, stopping her use of the formalities for one reason or another. Maybe it was just the horrendous pain making her forget. "You obviously care about your people; they just needed a scapegoat to blame..." She winced and held in a painful yelp at his unbearable grip. "It's ok, I b-believe you..."

Surprise flashed in his eyes. She understood? "Вы верите?" He whimpered, clutching her hand a little less harshly. A small smile played on his lips, a few tears spilling down his cheeks. "Вы на самом деле?" Releasing her hand and wiping away tears, he said hesitantly," Th-thank you, little girl. You show much kindness."

She could actually feel her hand again, the blood-flow again reaching into her fingertips. "Y-you're welcome Россия sir..." She sighed in relief, slightly flexing her hand, still in his grip, to ensure it was still there. That felt a helluva lot better, she having focused on the prior pain to her hand so much, that her headache and stomachache were ghosts of what they had been before, for a small while at least.

With another small smile, Suki tilted her head. It was truely obvious then that whatever his people claimed upon the man, he really didn't mean, or just plain didn't do, as he had said. She really felt sorry for him, having to go through so much misery for so long; that really had to suck. "I just don't find it fair for them to use you like a punching bag; you s-seem far to kind to even want anything of the s-sort..." Oh crap, there it was, that dreaded headache coming back. Come back it did, only this time with a vengeance. Well, her stomach was a little better, at least; though she'd rather have a stomachache than a headache. The girl groaned in pain, her own grip on the man's hand lessening.

"You have a headache, да? I have the cure for that." He stood up, walking away without a second glance. "Bодка makes everything better, да?" He held a bottle in one hand, and two (much less sentimental than last night's) glasses in the other, a large smile on his face. "I have learned not to trust you with priceless treasures, little girl, but these glasses will still serve their purpose. Those Стопка were precious gifts of mine, one of a kind. The set cannot be replaced..." His grin was locked in place as he sat down, pouring vodka for both. "Кол Кол Кол..."

At the mere sight of the alcohol, Suki just about puked. So far into her pain, she didn't even bother to deny the fact that HE was the one who broke his 'precious' glasses, or whatever the heck they were called.

"Oh god, please sir, i think I have a hangover," the teen groaned in agony, mind pounding. "The vodka is what started the headache..." Suki easily heard his low chanting of ongoing disapproval from the prior night, but there was no way that anyone could even FORCE that down her throat; she refused to drink anymore.

"Сукй denies my hospitality, да? That's too bad..." He said, a light airy tone in his voice as he set the bottle down and stood up to be standing next to her. His massive frame loomed over her as he sent a steady stream of 'Кол's her way and placed a hand on her head, gripping it harshly. This woman was a headache, he would offer something nice, and she immediately would turn it down. Russia grabbed the glass he had poured for her with his idle hand and slammed it.

"Сукй should be more considerate. I gave you my favorite Bодка to help with your headache, but you refused to partake in my kindness..." He pressed down on her head, putting as much strength into it without snapping her neck, and grabbing the other glass, drinking it as well. He rubbed her head like he would a pet, keeping on the pressure. "So cruel..."

Suki shut her eyes tightly, feeling his hand almost crushing down on her head. She gave off a low, begging whimper from her lips, her head not only pounding in absolute pain, but her neck threatening to snap in half as if it was a thin stick.

"Please l-let me go, sir…." She begged lightly, trying to push her head back up against his petting, but crushing hand. "Y-You're hurting me….." The girl bit on her lip, trying to distract herself from the overwhelming pain coursing through her body. Oh god, why didn't this man understand anything? Why was he so self-thinking, so paranoid to think that everything the girl did was against him?

Russia regarded the girl for a few seconds before releasing her head. "Вы не знаете, что такое боль," he muttered, stroking her cheek. His smile waned slightly until being reinforced. "Сукй knows so little, though she is американский, it is to be expected." He patted her head gingerly, the last one a bit harsh, then sat back down. He looked over at his guest with an enigmatic expression, lost in thought, whatever he was meditating so deeply was a mystery.

With hesitant, almost frightful movements, the girl looked down at the table, unable to speak, or think of anything to say. There was yet another thick feeling of anger and withheld violence in the air, if it hadn't already been shown by his fairly harsh actions on her head. Oh how her brain seemed to scream in agony and pain, the girl feeling like she could just topple over onto the floor and die. That maybe would have been a much nicer way to go than having to stay with, what seemed, the last of her days with that madman.

So very much in pain, she didn't want or try to deny his stereotyping statements about her, nor did she make any movements at all when he had finally released her head from his near break-neck pressure. Maybe if she just never denied his reasoning, and just continued being a shy pitiful and ignorant American, as he had been thinking, maybe he wouldn't be as harsh. Slowly, she attempted to stand up, mind and body aching something fierce. 'Oh god...' she thought to herself, nearly collapsing on the floors. "P-Please sir...I need...I need to g-go and lay down..." She whimpered, nearly begged, pain and nausea growing with her voice.

"Hmm, нет, I do not think that will be necessary. You just sit down, you'll be fine enough," He said, gesturing for her to do as he said. Leaning back in his chair he tried to think of a conversation starter. His guest was obviously bored or something to look so miserable. "Did you know that with as little as- hmm, американский, must use pounds... with as little as seven pounds of pressure you can break the average man's neck? And only fifteen pounds to crush the skull? Of course the ligaments and tendons and such get in the way."

Finding all hope in near dismal amounts, and, with a near silent sob of depression, the girl abruptly sat back in her chair. She slouched forward, sitting sideways in said piece of furniture, her head leaning forward in her horrid combating of the dreadful nausea. With a held in dry heave, stomach feeling like it was about to explode from a horrid combination of sensations and feelings, she could only sit there and listen to his words. If only she could pass out, an unlikely thing with a simple hangover, but nonetheless, the teen wished either that, or death to befall upon her. She didn't even bother answering the Russian, she was so fargone, though his words did chill her to the core in fear, yet another emotion to add to the proverbial mix, which seemed to be clumping and cloding together deep in the girls belly, tearing and scratching in a way to escape.

"The human heart can- Сукй, you look faint. Вы хорошо?" Russia watched amused, Suki not covering her suffering at all. While he was sure she wouldn't faint, Russia knew she probably wanted to right now. He knew what that was like...

Russia got up and wrapped his arms around her small frame, lifting her up delicately. He hummed quietly, almost to himself, feeling unrest rising in him. Why did this woman make him think of the past so much? She was so young, especially compared to the company he usually kept. Why did she of all people bring up the unwanted thoughts of history he had try to bury long ago? "You are very troublesome, little girl." He began a slow steady walk to the stairs, not wanting to upset her stomach to the point she threw up.

With barely any resistance, Suki simply turned her eyes to look at his face, growing more and more exhausted and pained to do much else. Gaining an odd weariness in her body, the girl groaned in response, then whimpered. "I'm...I'm sorry." She didn't know really, what else to say to that odd, seemingly bipolar man. First he hurt her, then helped her, the cycle seeming to repeat itself over and over again, truely shocking the girl how this man could nearly break her neck, then go around and carry her so delicately as if she was a piece of expensive china?

The more she tried to comprehend such a thought, the more her head continued to throb. She soon abandoned the plight, instead seeking enlightenment to know where he was taking her, the gentle rocking of his footsteps while she was in his grasp starting to lull away a little bit of her pain, and consciousness along with it.

Russia looked down at the girl in is arms, too many emotions to count running through his head. He hated her for making him remember dark days long past, but he valued having her company so much, he never wanted her to leave him alone. She made him feel like he wasn't alone, wouldn't be alone. He didn't want to be alone!

There had been times when he wished to be alone, especially that one time when- Russia blanked, knowing he didn't want to recall what he almost had. This cursed, little girl brought back too much! Seeing he had reached the room he let her have last night, he walked up to the bed and dropped her unceremoniously. "Why do you do that to me? I want you to stop!" He grabbed his head as he shook it, trying to erase the memories. "Пожалуйста, please!

In fear, though mind clouded by her slight physical sickness, the girl backed up on the bed, trying to gain as much distance between him and her as she possibly could. She was confused. What was Russia talking about? What had she done now? With a firm frown and wide eyes, the teen backed until she felt her back hit the head of the bed, her legs still trying to push her farther away. "I-I'm not d...doing anything..." She murmured, feeling her head grow dizzy, the girl fighting to keep herself from speaking in gibberish, broken sentences.

In Russian, he speedily said," Stop lying, you must be doing it on purpose! It- It hurts and I don't like it. Please stop making me remember! I don't want to remember it. I never do, it's too painful." Falling to his knees and burying his face into the thick blankets, he whispered in English," I don't want to..." He grabbed a limb at an awkward angle, probably a leg, and pulled the woman to him. "Why? Why? Why do you do this to me?" He hugged her tightly around the waist, maybe too tightly according to the small crack her spine gave, but he didn't care. He was remembering... He was- He was remembering!

_"I knew you were a work of evil when after 10 years you never aged. You evil demon child, you brought us this early winter! It's because of you our village is starving!" The leader of his village shouted with another drop of the huge wooden stick he favored. The leader of the village had gotten bored of the whip, and the knife had grown over used recently. That stick he was so fond of. Oh how Rus Kiev hated that stick that the sick man loved. It hurt so much... but he never complained. What if the man chose to attack his sisters then? No, he would take it. He would take the beatings. He was sorry. He was sorry. He was sorry!_

"Прости! Мне очень жаль!" The words came out strangled, much as the nation felt. His breathing was heavy as he tried to get enough oxygen. "Мне очень жаль, я не хотел, чтобы это сделать!"

Pain and misery seemed to flash through her smaller body like lightning, tearing through flesh and bone like hungry dogs through a scrap of meat. Eyes wide and mouth open, no words fell from her lips, the crack of pain just too much to bare. She heard it, the words in Russian that she had spoken many times herself. What was he sorry for, so incredibly sorry for? Why, why was he screaming at her like that, why was he accusing her of something that she didn't even know that she had done. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HIM?

"..." every ounce of air had been forcibly pushed out of her chest, the girl not even being able to breathe efficiantly. Combined with the pain, a sharp ache and stabbing agony in the center of her back, her one leg feeling twisted from where he had grabbed and dragged her, Suki couldn't take it. Oh god, oh god she wanted this to be a nightmare, wanted to be home, wanted to be safe, anywhere but there, with that utterly insane and childish madman! Though she wanted to struggle, the girl could only lay limp against him, feeling his impossibly strong bear-like arms squeeze the life from her.

_"I'm sorry... I really am! You forgive me, right? Please forgive me..."_

_"Damn Commie, I bet he's plotting world destruction right now. Just look at him, smiling and laughing at some poor-"_

"_B-but Mr. America, he hasn't been communist since 1991, when the USSR dissolved. I was communist then too," Lithuania said, a little hurt could be heard in his voice, but was quickly replaced with fear as he whispered," And I think he can hear us!"_

Russia caught his breath painfully, thinking of the much more recent memory. "Of course, you're американский, you'll never forgive. All you do is hold grudges unreasonably. All... All you do... I'm sorry! Please... Please stop." Russia let go of her, quickly backing away, blocking himself like someone was hitting him. "Почему?"

All the girl felt was her sudden release, her body falling almost onto the soft bedsheets and ears hearing every word he spoke. With a great pain she slowly pulled herself to sit up, wincing and groaning with how incredibly painful it was to even move. He had done quite a number with her back and knee, she quickly realize, simply by how it felt like her bones had been hit with a hack-saw, her knee twisted in the most odd direction, screaming in agony. And all else she could feel was anger, anger coupled with absolute and utter fear. How dare he hurt her so badly, and then even worse, he thought that he could turn around and act scared and think she'd forgive him. The nerve! The utter and impeccable NERVE?

The enraged girl frowned, regardless that every movement stung and throbbed, and moved herself on her knees and looked forward, staring down the man with a great ferocity only she could muster after so long of having to be put through it. "Don't...y-you da-"

Then, she saw his eyes, just a sight, a sliver of a second of contact that allowed her to make contact with those purple orbs. And then suddenly, it wasn't an act. His sadness, misery, and depression seemed to radiate from the very depths of his soul, as if the color of his misery alone was what painted that extraordinary color of those eyes. No, be angry, be angry, be angry dammit! Suki whimpered to herself, getting more and more angry with herself that she could bring to make herself angry at the man. Then, hating herself more and more with every inch, she crawled closer to him. What was this emotion she felt? Why didn't she feel angry upon hearing that utterly pitiful voice, so young and sad? When she was perfectly close to hit him and run, why did she stay and risk another chance of getting hit herself?

So many thoughts, questions, denials and more raged through her brain, but it all flew out the window the second she made contact. Slinging her arms around him, partially keeping his own arms locked (unknowingly but subconsciously trying to keep him from hitting her out of his panic) and her forehead against his. "Shhhhh..." she shushed, much like a mother would to sooth a child. Oh his eyes, those horrid, but incredibly pitiful eyes..."Американский или нет, я прощаю..." She continued, her broken Russian the best she could come up with, but trying anyways. "я прощаю...я прощаю...я прощаю..." She continued to chant it in a whisper, using it like a mantra in painful, weak attempts to calm him down. Why didn't she hate him? Why was she helping him? With that, mere moments after hugging him and with so many things happening; pain, headache, possible broken or twisted limbs, a denial of pity and some odd perverse affection towards that damn Russian, and self hate, Suki felt a sudden darkness fall over her, everything growing dim, until it all seemed to stop.

The comforting embrace loosened, and Russia watched her fall to the ground, thinking to catch her after the moment of impact. Breath coming in harsh gasps, he tried to calm down. "Сукй...?" He dropped to a knee, rubbing her cheek softly. "Я- Мне так жаль. Спасибо вам большое... Спасибо... Мне очень жаль... Спасибо, Спасибо, Мне очень жаль," He mumbled, it being his turn to repeat himself.

He picked her up (once again, unconscious...) putting her back on the bed and trying to lay her limbs semi naturally so she was as comfortable as he could make her. Well, except her left leg. The knee bent wrong, and the tibia or fibula or something, was cracked at the center, making her leg crooked. He would have to fix that...


	3. Memories are Nightmares You Remember

**A!N (Suki) :** This part was very fun to write for. Overall, the entire interactions with Suki and Russia have been painful at best, though we've never had a chance to dwelve deeper into either of their pasts beyond simple memories. This part starts to go a slight deeper with Russia's character (whom Momo RP's so well 3) and show's Suki's (not so slow) understanding of what the hell she really got herself into.

**_Remember, reviews/suggestions are love!_**

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><p><em><strong>Chapter 3: Memories are Nightmares You Remember<strong>_

_**(Воспоминания Кошмары помнишь)**_

The back of her lids were filled with pictures and sounds, none of them particularly good. There wasn't much that she could make out very clearly, but there were feelings. Fear was a big one, its long thin tendrils wrapping around the very core of her bones, arms and legs restrained to its paralyzing might and strength. Shadows seemed to play in her vision, floating and flying around as they moved into shapes and figures of her mind, both intriguing and scaring the teen. And slowly, it all began to dim away, all the feelings leaving her, unwrapping their hold around her limbs.

"...?" Slowly, vision began to return to eyes, Suki's lids blinking once, twice, clearing away the blur that clouded over her blue orbs. Those same eyes soon were turned one way, she not wanting or bothering upon this awakening to sit up, her back already protested the act. Hesitantly she looked in the other direction, soon determining that at least her neck was alright. Her mind moved lower down her body, quickly finding her chest, arms, and back to be in the same shape, besides the general soreness. Then, when she moved even lower, down to her legs, the girl found something quite odd. Taking a second to think clearly, Suki found that she felt some sort of cast or splint against her right leg, the same one that Russia had pulled...Not allowing the memories of the past days to return more than a few at a time, She slowly reached her hand to pull up the covers, her eyes traveling down to her wrapped leg. Indeed it was such a thing, wrapping tight, but loose enough for her ankle to be moved. Huh. Sitting up painfully, the girl realized that he had indeed put the splint on her leg. Though confused at an even greater emotional turn for him to show such an act of (Mercy? Kindness?), she was simply happy Russia even bothered, regardless if her leg was starting to hurt like hell.

"О, добрый вечер. это хорошо, посмотрим... Hmm, американский, да, I forgot. Good evening, it's good to see you awake. You slept poorly, да? It seemed a rather fitful sleep," Russia said calmly, wearing a smile. He sat on a chair in the corner of the room, having watched her to make sure she didn't hurt herself. When a leg was fully wrapped (especially without your knowledge), it didn't take much to lose balance and come tumbling off the bed without the support you were used to able to prevent it. Not that he was sure he would have leaped into action to help her, but at least stop her from further hurting her knee. "I suggest you don't put weight on your leg or bend it. It could easily snap your knee. You don't want that, да?" His smile was fake like usual, his eyes dark as he looked over at the girl. His voice was high and childish again, but it sounded much more forced then before. It had been hours, but he still couldn't completely forget about the haunting memories plaguing him.

The girl gulped in withheld anxiety at the sound of his voice, high, childish, and completely fake. As much as her blue orbs didn't want to behold the horrid sight, realizing he had been right there the whole time that she slept made Suki feel very...unnerved, to put it lightly. Turning her head with the slightest of movements, she stared at him with a blank expression, she not entirely sure even what emotion TO feel, as there were way too many already flooding her mind. In short, the teen found it simple enough not to feel anything, since feeling numb was better than being frightened or angry, and she sure had ample amounts of both emotions at that time.

"...Yes," she started in a whisper, unsure how to speak without creating yet another cycle of abuse. Like a predator and prey, toying with, playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Suki wasn't sure that the metaphor was the exact thing for the situation, as there were times when the Russian did seem to be honestly sorry and vulnerable; it was close enough. "I had a lot of nightmares..." Her voice sounded, monotone and flat.

"Hmm? Nightmares..." He dropped his gaze, staring at the floor with disinterest. He was barely acknowledging reality; he kept getting pulled back to-

_It was so sticky. Rus scratched at his neck, the offending scabs peeling easily since blood was still flowing under them. His cheeks were still wet, just having stopped crying, and his breathing a little short. "I-it's hurts," He whimpered, bringing his hand back down and staring wide eyed at the bright red, glimmering sickly in the firelight. "Why... Why di-?"_

_"You have to pay for what you do wrong. Sin is very bad."_

_"S-sin?" The little boy asked, the still new word rolling off his tongue. He would learn that word very well._

_"That's right, Rus," He said, still toying with the leather strap that now a deep muddy color, crusty with chipping blood. "You'll be baptized tomorrow, but until then you need to redeem your evils." _

_"B-but I thought the Lord forgave us or something," Rus whispered, trying to recall the strange book he had been forced to read yesterday. He had been sad when he saw them burning the statues of his gods, but that book had been nice to read. _

_"Not devils. Not you," Came the chilling reply, soon followed by another round of 'redemption'..._

Russia stared blankly, holding in the crushing fear, pain, and depression.

The girl only muttered lowly in response to his question, which to her sounded less like a question than just a statement. For a few minutes she sat there, a low pain throbbing through her splintered leg, all the way up her bones and back again. Slowly, the clock seemed to grow louder, each tick of a second passing by turning into miniature eternities all of their own, seeming to go on forever in isolating bitter silence.

After looking down at her bruised arms and being reminded of the painful, but vivid things that had occurred during the last two days. (two days already?) From tea and shattered cups to hugs and broken bones, the young woman felt like the world was caving in to her, nothing seeming quite right any longer. She was tired of feeling angry and frightened; Suki only wanted to go home, but since that was proving time and time again to be painful and filled with misery, maybe soon she would have to accept that maybe...just maybe...she might not ever be able to go home. Though the thought seemed very out-there, but Suki felt like with everything that's only happened in less than a span of 48 hours, maybe that wasn't such a far off idea after all. But, the strange thing, the really strange thing, was that she didn't have any feelings towards that prospect, good or bad. She just felt tired and hurt, the girl slowly turning her eyes to stare at the man. Suki dared not say anything, knowing how harsh Russia could react when pulled from his thoughts. Instead, she kept silent, too frightened to take the chance; rather allow him to get out of it on his own.

Abruptly he looked back up, deeply into her blue eyes, and asked, barely above a whisper," D-did you mean it? You forgive me?" His voice lost its high pitch, along with his false smile being long gone. He wore a confused expression of hope, but predominately disconsolation and disbelief. Russia pulled at his scarf, making it wrap around his neck tighter, trying to not feel the scars that seemed to acquire their own pulse. He hated them so much.

Not answering at first, the girl turned back to look at her arms, eyes staring blankly downward, she unsure how to respond. It was as if her mind was torn, pain and kindness battling out for the chance to leave her body in words that could turn the tides of what would happen next. She hated that man, there was no doubt. He hurt her, broke more bones in her body than she ever had herself, bruised her and bashed her to pieces, all from the moment she had walked into the door of the mansion. What was she supposed to answer? Taking a few moments to think, Suki continued to stare blankly before finally answering. "...Yes," she nodded slowly, clenching the fabric of the blankets in her aching fists. She could have said more, maybe less, but that was all she came up with, the most truthful answer without the sugar-coating.

Realizing he had been holding his breath, he sighed in relief as he heard her answer. Russia stood up and walked over to her, sitting beside her. He didn't notice, or at least ignored, her flinch at this. Sounding almost... broken... he asked quietly, "Really?" He grabbed her hand, holding on to it gently, as if trying to ascertain her existence.

Feeling her hand grow almost icy-cold in the man's grasp, Suki was hard-pressed to keep from shivering, mostly in fear. She flinched when those long pale fingers curled around her flesh, almost sending electric volts of shock and surprise tearing through her brain, even though she had indeed seen it coming, watching his tall form walking close to her from the corners of her blank eyes.

She didn't have much of a voice to use at that point; maybe it was because she was so damn scared that he was in such a close proximity to her, or because she was still at war with herself on how to feel, or even the girl was just to tired to deny and fight any longer. All she knew was her answer was truthful, and she needed no extras to her explanation, just the bare bones.

With an obviously pained movement, the teen nodded her head, keeping her stare at the blanket, refusing to meet with violet eyes. She didn't want to see the sadness, the honest-to-god sadness that worked like magic, sucking the anger and fear dry from her soul, only making her want to hold him and hug him, which would then lead to her being beaten; much it was like a trap, and she didn't want to fall for it again, regardless of the answer she gave.

Russia looked worriedly at the emotionless response. "Uh, Перерыв был чистым- Ой американский," He broke off a little flustered, switching back to English. "The break was clean, so your leg should be fine," He said slightly panicked, trying to find what was the source of her coldness. He didn't want her angry at him. Strike that, he couldn't have her angry at him. "Да... да, and... Um, none of your cuts are infected... a-and..." He tried to find more reassuring things to say. Holding her hand with both his, he clutched it earnestly, verging on a little passed comforting (if she had even found it so in the first place) a little closer to uncomfortable, but so far nowhere close to painful.

Suki blinked, eyes softening, but only slightly. Why was he freaking out so much about her injuries, explaining them? She could feel and see that nothing was passed a simple ache, but yet he seemed to feel the need to remind her over and over of the many wounds he had given her for simply either being next to him or trying to be nice? She still looked away from his eyes, knowing that one tiny look would make her go crawling back to try and be kind to him, make herself feel guilty for hating the 'poor, venerable' Russian man. He had seen many hardships, Suki agreed, he had many pains and scars that still raged in his being from battles long ago, being the scapegoat in many a country. Putting a little more emotion (the teen wasn't sure which one) into her voice, she spoke in a soft whisper.

"It's ok." It was simple and clear cut, but also true (damn his aura; she didn't even have to be looking in his eyes and she was already feeling guilty and sad?). The woman flinched slightly at the sound of her own voice, trailing her eyes down her bruised arm until they came upon her hand, clasped between the Russian man's larger pale ones. Feeling an odd, almost childish fear shaking through his palms, the girl slowly added, "I'm not angry..." _But I am very, very bitter_, She added on silently. _And crazily hating myself for being so._

"О, хорошо," He said mostly to himself and smiled, briefly squeezing her hand. "You shouldn't worry me, да?" He didn't know what to say after finding out what he wanted. She couldn't exactly walk (without risking her knee... it was in bad shape, but he neglected to mention how bad) but he didn't want her bored out of her mind while stuck in bed (for quite possibly a few days... or more). "Hmm... you like stories, да? Everyone likes stories... Um, да, I could read you one." That would be nice of him, right?

"S-sure..." She tilted her head slightly, uncaring anymore if she looked into his eyes; it didn't matter, she was already feeling sad and guilty, all the anger she had held towards the man drained away, along with her will to even humor herself with the thought of returning home. At least she was warm and clothed, the woman could have fought, telling herself that it was much better than being caught in the cold. Yeah, that was it, that was why she didn't feel angry, deep down. Yeah.

"How about that one?" She slowly pointed with her free hand to a book she had spotted laying halfway off of a shelf, fighting off the need to wince in pain from her shoulder being against the action. It was a small book, but obviously for a child. It had a stuffed bear of some sort on the cover. It almost reminded her of Winnie-the-pooh.

"Ах, Винни-Пух? That's в Украине favorite," He said his smile growing warmer. "I like that one a lot..." He stood up and went to retrieve the book, grabbing on to it gingerly. It was an old book, and looked rather worn, especially around the spine. Holding it close to his chest he softly hummed the song that Винни was fond of in the animated shorts (their animated shorts, not the Disney American ones), remembering the first time Ukraine had read him the book back in the 60's. She had even read the Russian one first for him, despite having it in her own language. The day she had read it to him had been one of their few brotherly sisterly moments since him being Kievan Rus'...

Sitting back down, he wrapped one arm around her waist and propped up the book like one would for a child. "ГЛАВА ПЕРВАЯ. В КОТОРОЙ МЫ ЗНАКОМИМСЯ С ВИННИ-ПУХОМ И НЕСКОЛЬКИМИ ПЧЕЛАМИ," He read the title of the first page, then translated, "Chapter one. As we are familiar with Винни-Пух and the multiple bees."

Suki listened to how his soft voice read from the beginning of the book, amazed that someone with so many violent tenancies could just be so...gentle. She felt almost, like a child again, hearing the foreign words almost seem to come to life from the book, she nearly understanding their meaning from a combination of the gorgeous pictures in the children's book, and the simple tones that saturated the Russian's voice as he read first in his native tongue, and then kindly translated each page over into her language. It...it was odd, being read to like that. It made her feel young and cared for, like a child needing to be watched over, and loved.

The feeling was almost unreal; how could that man who was speaking so softly and affectionately be the very same one who had inflicted immeasurable pain onto her? The woman didn't want nor couldn't explain, even fathom, the reason for it, and instead chose to simply enjoy the time of peace she had with the other, she slowly leaning her head against him, listening with a tiny growing smile at the children's story. It was lovely, actually; in some instances, she almost started to forget the prospect of going home; f-for then, at least; after all, it was winter, and she had to wait until it warmed up more so it was safe to walk back to town. Right.

He continued reading and translating until he came to the end of chapter one, pausing before translating the last bit. " 'Will you come see me swim?' 'Probably,' said papa." He read the last three lines," ≈ А ему не очень было больно, когда я попал в него из ружья? ≈ Ни капельки, ≈ сказал папа. Мальчик кивнул и вышел, и через минуту папа услышал, как Винни-Пух поднимается по лесенке: бум-бум-бум." Russia looked down at Suki, who rested against him, her before rigid form much more relaxed.

Smiling softly, he translated it," 'And he did not really get hurt when I hit him with my gun?' 'Not a bit,' said papa. The boy nodded and walked out and a minute later father heard the Pooh climb the ladder: the boom-boom-boom." Thinking over the beloved book, Russia closed it, setting it down, and embraced his now free arms around the girl. "See, Пух is not hurt one bit, and neither is Сукй," Russia decided, making a (questionable) leap in logic.

Having not that comfortable nor peaceful for a long time, Suki could only listen happily as he finished the book, finding more and more how much she really liked the native language, the soft and gentle way he read out each line, much like how a parent would read to a young child. It was... weird, weird and almost...nice.

Finding no other way to respond to Russia's clever, albeit long-shot link in logic, Suki nodded. "Uh hmm..." She murmured, feeling a soft twitch in her lips make them smile, her eyes half-lidded as she lay against the larger Russian. He may have been crazy, may have been sadistic and bi-polar in some way. But yet...there were moments where it was so easy to forget. So easy to simply deny how much and how many times he had exploded in unprovoked anger towards her, breaking bones and causing bruises; so easy it was to forget that she wasn't a guest in the mansion, but instead she forced to be there in his mad idea of not being alone. It was just so simple and easy to smile and be happy, listening to him read to her, she leaning against his soft and warm body, shielded from the cold the unyielding outside had to offer. And in some ways, although it scared Suki worse than anything else...she almost...didn't want to go home.

Russia leaned back against the head board, smiling as he looked down at his guest, making sure his movement didn't disturb her. Cuddling her close to him, he ran his hand down her cheek, admiring the near porcelain quality it had. "Баю-баюшки-баю, Не ложися на краю," He sang softly, remembering the melody being sung to him. "Придёт серенький волчок, Он ухватит за бочок..." He recalled one time in particular. The room was dark, but a few candles were lit. "И утащит во лесок Под ракитовый кусток..." It was very dark, but the object in the woman's hands gleamed. He repeated the short but beautiful song again, though the words were little harsher this time around.

"Баю-баюшки-баю, Не ложися на краю..." The darkness didn't phase her, and she told the little boy not to be afraid of the dark. "Придёт серенький волчок, Он ухватит за бочок..." "I'm not afraid of the dark," I responded. "И утащит во..." Russia trailed off, wide eyed, using all the strength he had, to not suddenly crush the girl in his arms. "Then what could you possibly be afraid of?" She asked, tossing and catching one end of the shiny object in her hand, singing a should-be-soothing lullaby she had sang last night. He went numb and felt ill.

As soft and mysterious as a dark nights spring breeze, Suki felt her body fall limp and tired, finding a sense of protection and solace in the other's firm, but oddly gentle grip. She found herself quite content with listening to the Russian lullaby, not entirely noticing that with each go-around of the lyrics, his voice grew more and more harsh, like the dotting night sky grew darker and darker on a cold and bitter winter's night, as if each star that kept his voice bright and innocent-sounding was being lost in the inky shadow of an unknown emotion, swallowing up everything in it's path. Hesitantly, Suki rose her head up to look up into his purple eyes, the action like a child, curious and worried.

"Huh...?" She asked silently, feeling his soft grip become more forced instead of gentle, sensing a dark aura grow, the feeling becoming more familiar to her; it was the feeling she got whenever he was having, or was about to have, an episode. Unsure how something so simple as a lullaby could cause something so incredibly harsh, the girl tried to strain her ears so listen harder, wondering what hidden meaning was knitted deep into those deep words, wondering what fond or harsh memory that had been intertwined with them from long ago.

"_во- во лесок Под ракитовый кусток," He started up again, his gaze drifting to the window, seeing the blizzard that still roared softly. His focus blurred, as he tried to concentrate on the storm and not... _

_"Y-you," The boy answered... his reply coming late because he had to focus on not letting it crack in his fear. "Б-Б-Баю-баюшки-баю, Не ложися на краю," He stumbled over the lyrics he knew so well. "Why ever would you fear me, Rus? I always sing for you." Her hand tussled his hair roughly. He didn't bother with words anymore, he only hummed. "Please st- Agghh, Please stop hittin- m-ME- Oww...I-I'm sorry. Whatever I di- AAGghh~ wh-whatever I did... I-I'm s-soRRY Oooww..." His arms tightened around her, almost begging for her to save him. "Пожалуйста, пожалуйста, прекратите! Пожалуйста, прекратите бить меня. Мне очень жаль."_

_Listening to the heavily accent words, he fell silent, feeling the returned hug and the comfort it brought. A little less aggitated, though still very obviously frightened, he said in mumbled Russian," I- I didn't mean to... I'm sorry... I am, I am, I really am, I'm sorry! Please... Stop...!" She caught his ear with the heavy, blunt weapon. "I said I'm sorry..." Again, this time the cheek. "Why...? Why are you-? Never mind, I didn't mean to ask. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to ask! I know I'm evil. Whatever I did was wrong! I'm sorry!" Another strike, but this time he caught it in a small fist. He ripped it out of her hands, taking intense pleasure from the smile on her face freezing and falling to an expression of horror. Taking on a tone of sick happiness, he continued," Hah! You can't hit me anymore. You never will. You never will hit me again!" His voice was eerie with sadistic glee. He smashed the weapon against her knee, the woman buckling and screaming in pain. Her face was in his reach now._

There weren't many words of his odd resurfacing memory that Suki could make out, other than 'I'm sorry' and 'Please'. Damn, whatever it was must have been horrible, he sounded so scared, sounded so hurt. What had happened to him? Making her grip as tight as she could, which would never have even hurt the man, due to his size, the girl continued to say her small and hopefully comforting mantra, her eyes shut tightly and head burying itself in his chest, praying that soon, the memory would end, and the man would come out of it.

As much as the girl may have felt bitter to Russia, she wished there was something she could do to help him. Her mind was heavily into these thoughts, she growing more and more determined to understand these episodes so she could be a greater help when she picked up his last words. It was completely in Russian, so Suki didn't know a word that was being said. But the tone said it all. It was light and crazed, obviously this part of the memory was when something bad had happened. He now seemed almost happy, but his tone, forced and jagged, showed a much more darker side to him than Suki ever wanted to discover. She shivered as she nearly clung to him, begging silently for the memory to end, even though it was obviously hurting him than it was honestly hurting her.

_She couldn't dodge the blow to the face, her nose crackling like wet wood popping in a fire. Wind up, swing, bludgeoned her jaw. It cracked under the fierce blow. "Never! Never! N-n-never! Y-you'll never hit me again! I promise!"_

Russia looked blankly at the girl holding onto him. "You'll never hit me, I promise," He repeated, this time in English, shoving her away. He watched her fall off the bed, his face expressionless. She was laying on the ground now, only moaning, unable to make coherent pleas and memory plagued his mind, deceiving him of what was real and what wasn't anymore. He couldn't help it, holding his hands over his eyes in attempt to make the visions stop, uncaring of the very real person laying on the ground, sputtering in pain.

_"How do you like it? Never again! Never!" He dropped the heavy weapon on her stomach, then again on her shoulder, then again on her other knee, then again on her other shoulder, then again, then again, then again, then again, then again... His breathing was steady, he simply looked down at the girl, deadpan eyes staring passed her. His final strike crushed the jugular, rendering her unable to breathe, but she had been dead long before that. He stared down at her, a bloody mess. He had made a bloody mess out of her with a blunt object, had covered himself in her blood. That was the first one he had killed. Rus had just killed one of his own citizens..._

_He felt ill, nausea overcoming him in a staggering wave. Backing away, dropping the bludgeon, he grabbed at his now red and sticky hair. "I- I- I didn't m-mean to. I didn't mean to!" Walking backwards, away from the bloody corpse, a ruddy trail following him, he cried," I didn't mean to! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" His back bumped the wall behind him, and he jumped, looking back quickly in fear. Rus felt so... he was sickened. He looked back at his citizen. He had just killed apart of him, and he felt revulsion turning sickly in his stomach._

"I had to. She kept hitting me. I didn't mean to. I was sorry, but she didn't care. I didn't mean to..." Russia mumbled over and over in different orders, but the same old message being repeated, mixing English and Russian.

It was so quick to happen, the girl wasn't sure what had occurred until she felt sudden and immeasurable pain split through her body, leg screaming in agony as it hit the ground with a loud thud. "GAHH!" She screamed out, a shock to her system when she tried to get up awkwardly, only to fall back to the ground when her arms weren't enough to keep her aching body up. The pain growing in horrid amounts, the girl felt her breathing start to come in progressively ragged heaves, feeling like something else was broken in her, the source resonating in her already shattered leg. Wincing audibly and grabbing at where the splint began, Suki again tried to stand up, but still failed. Stunned and confused, she didn't know what else to do but cry out in pain every time a shock penetrated her bones.

"Don't move. You will further break your leg, да?" His smile was back, but it lacked any emotion. He muttered some Russian to himself then nodded shakily to himself. "She... she died, but it wasn't my fault. She wouldn't stop hitting me," He explained. Not that his listener knew what he was explaining, but he wasn't really saying it for her benefit anyways. "It... It couldn't be helped. I didn't mean to..." He tried once again to convince himself. His whole frame shook slightly as he curled up, grabbing his legs violently. Burying his face in his knees, soft sobs could be heard. He hummed the melody to himself, the pitch slightly off, high and panicked.

Though she knew it was useless, the girl gave a few more attempts to stand. With a final grunt of pain she gave up, finding only enough strength to turn herself onto her back, eyes staring hard at the ceiling as she listened to his pitiful pleas and self-purposed whines. It was sad, but yet, Suki felt like she no longer had any energy to have any will. Why bother anymore? Why bother caring for him when he'd only bruise her body, break her bones, shove her to the ground?

Because you care for him... a weak voice protested. You WANT to help him... She wanted to, but couldn't deny that voice. She was too tired, she tried to think as a reason, she was just too tired...yeah...

The nausea plagued him, sticking to him like the blood that slowly dried on his arms. He sunk to the ground, he didn't know what to do. "A-and, she hit me... I begged her to stop, I didn't want to hurt her. I hadn't even thought of hurting her. You believe me, да? Да? But she d-didn't stop," He continued his impassive face quickly gaining a haunted look of despair as he lifted his head to look at her. "I had the chance to stop being hit, I shouldn't have taken it! I shouldn't... I shouldn't... But it was the only way, it's not my fault..." Seeing her on the ground, looking helpless- She was laying on the ground now, only moaning, unable to make coherent pleas and apolog- "P-please move, little girl. You l-look dead." He began to hum again with a slightly faster tempo.

Deciding to make joke of it all, deciding that possibly responding with humor would lessen her body of pain. "….I'm not little…." She muttered lightly, her eyes turning to him, blue orbs burning deep into his purple ones, trying to hide all the agony and misery jolting through her body (mostly her leg, though). Wincing horribly, she pressed her elbows on the ground and purely willed herself to sit up and stop being such a cry-baby. He was going to be so bi-polar? She had already promised that she'd figure him out and try to help, so she wasn't going to give up right then, her stubbornness would never allow her to just roll over and die. Her voice in her head screamed at her when she nearly gave up on the simple action, forcing her to struggle through. With a relieved sigh, she stared down at her arms, and then turned her sights once again onto the man, tilting her head in slight curiosity for what he still had to say.

"Нет, Вы ошибаетесь. You are very little," He said, shifting his weight and leaning over the bed to pat her head. Holding his hand there, he asked," Why are you so little, hmm?" Russia put a little force on the hand, pressing it down. With a small sound of surprise he withdrew his hand staring at it like it was flashing red, because in his mind it was doing exactly that, light gleaming off the sticky substance that was dripping down his hand. "Почему? Почему вы кровотечения?" The panic on his face increased as he tried to wipe off the blood, but found he couldn't.

Suki frowned as she saw the expression (oh god it was getting so familiar to her…), she already regretting the new turn of events when she could see the sudden fear in his eyes. With a quick, yet nervous hand, Suki snatched up the Russian hand, holding it firmly in her fingers to keep him from frantically trying to wipe off whatever unseen substance from it. "Россия." Suki stated, more coughed, forcing her eyes to keep strong and determined, even if she was going to get hit for this. ".FINE." She stated in growing volume, almost using her grip on his wrist to balance her as she pulled herself onto her good leg, climbing back onto the bed. "Whatever happened…..it's over. I forgive you, whatever you did, it's ok, it's over Россия, it's over." And with that, she had to stop, her body laying *painfully* on the bed, though her grip remained on his wrist, as if trying to will him back to the present. After a second of silence, the girl shut her eyes in preparation to be hit.

He ran his fingers through her hair, bewildered. "Сукй, you're the one bleeding." Finding his hands weren't getting soaked red, he sighed confused. "You say you forgive me, but you do not really mean that. Aмериканцы say what they don't mean all the time. I killed the woman. I've killed many men and women. In cold blood. My own citizens even. You don't forgive me." He said all of this with an accusing tone, but in the last sentence, the hope that he was lying was heard overpoweringly so.

"...Just like not all Italians are disorganized, or not every Irishman is a drunk, not all American's are ignorant, and some can easily forgive," The girl started, staring dead-at the other, blue eyes determined and unclouded by her pain. She had seen some pretty bad things in her life, and murder was part of it. Of course, being a good christian girl, as well as a sensible human being, Suki knew the killing of another was horrible, dreadful, and downright wrong. But there was something about that man, something dark, mysterious, and oddly pitiful that made it seem...a tad bit different.

Suki could tell there was something, something that had occurred to that Russian not just once, but many times over his lifetime that had pushed him to such extremes. Oh yeah, and he was a country. That certainly made things different. Though murder was a sin, it didn't mean she couldn't forgive him (though it was completely stupid to do so! She barely even KNEW him; but yet her gut wasn't thinking so smartly for the last few days, it seemed). On the contrary, the fact only spurred on her will further, she wanting to know more about that man, more about his past and what made him into what he was today. And, overall, she just wanted to help. It was kind. STUPID, but kind.

Russia gave her a distrustful look, but seeing her determined gaze, his expression softened to a smile. "Хорошо. That makes me glad," He said, his voice happy as could be, as if nothing had happened. It still held that overly cheery tone though, the gaggingly-sweet sound that just came off as fake.

Suki's once hard-set frown slowly melted into a smile, despite hearing that sickly-sweet happy tone again in his voice. Hearing that was NEVER a good sign, but it was at least better than him having a spaz attack and shoving her already broken body onto the hard and unforgiving floor. "You're most welcome, Mr.Россия," she spoke, closing her tired eyes slowly, almost cautiously, not wanting to be caught off-guard if another memory came as a relapse. Her brain was positively brimming with curious questions about what had only just occurred, but Suki found that it would probably keep her lifespan longer if she kept the many questions to herself, for then at least.

Russia got up and walked to the door slowly. "You got off the bed, that wasn't good for for your leg. I do not think you managed to worsen it too much though, do not worry. But you shouldn't walk for a while, да?" He crossed the threshold into the hallway, then halted and looked back. "I'll bring you food. You're hungry, да?" He nodded, answering for her. "Хорошо." He smiled, and for once it seemed not forced, then proceeded to leave.

Not wanting to deny his obvious error in thought that she had somehow shoved herself off the bed, Suki simply nodded. Though it was a painful and agonizing process, but in some ways, the teen thought that she was starting to map this guy out. Understand him, at least, to an exterior extent. It wasn't worth it to try and argue that he was the one who hurt her and nearly broke her leg, AGAIN. Suki knew already what could happen if she bothered to try and tell him so. But maybe that was it. Maybe if she just went along with his little 'game' that it could work out a little better, give her a chance to try and understand why he was so...messed up, persay.

As the woman felt the silence again surround her, she looked over to the side of the bed, quickly locating the small book that the man had once been reading to her. "Винни-Пух..." She read off, using what little knowledge of the Cyrillic alphabet to sound out the foreign words. Her eyes roamed over the cover, and with a calm, slow motion, her hands opened the cover for her to start reading it herself. She didn't understand the words at all, but she was able to follow the story by memory of when Russia had translated for her, and from the many pretty pictures.

Russia was gone for a while, but when he returned, he came baring a tray that held two mugs of tea, a bowl of tea cakes, and a dish of golubtsy. "I made these for you. You like them, да?" He announced as he entered the room. He saw she was reading Винни-Пух and smiled wider. Setting the tray down, He grabbed the precious book away from her and said," Нет, Сукй, this is my book, да?" Despite his simple sentence sounding innocent and happy, underneath the joyous tone lied the sinister and disturbing quality threatening to dominate.

Almost immediately regretting she even touching the seemingly innocent children's book with a low shiver, the girl quickly surrendered it to the man. "I was just reading it..." She murmured lightly, unsure, but not questioning, why he was being so incredibly protective over such a small thing. She wasn't even doing anything to it; and wouldn't he be happy that she was actually taking an interest in his culture? Oh well, Suki sighed as she looked at the food and drink the man had brought in so she wouldn't have to look at him, she quickly dropping the touchy subject of the old book. "Thank you much for the food and drink though, Mr.Россия." The girl smiled, already bringing in the formalities as she regarded the country.

"Не за что," He replied, as he took his book back to the bookshelf and placed it lovingly back in it's place. "I had time while you were unconscious, so I made my favorite comfort food," He said, not seeming to care much about her being unconscious. "You like it, да?" He asked her once again as he returned to the bed and sat down beside her. Russia grabbed a mug of tea smiled as he inhaled it's scent. With a free hand, he casually grabbed her broken leg at the break point. "Хорошо, seems to still be straight." Smiling, he returned to drinking tea like nothing had happened.

Suki didn't care much as he spoke. She kept her hands in her lap, leaving her eyes to lay softly on the thick covers of the bed she was laying on, pondering about the intricate detail of the needlework that went into it far more than anything that had to do with the man sitting close to her. She was almost calmly distracted away from him when she suddenly felt a cold hand clamp around her broken leg, right at the source of the dull stabbing pain that shot through all the way into the deepest part of her bones. The teen screamed out in shocked pain, instinctively trying to jerk her leg away, which only heightened the pain. "GAH!" She yelped, staring at him as if he was a madman. "What was that for?" she accused.

Why did she seem so distressed? He frowned at her, slightly confused. "I was checking Сукй's leg." He averted his eyes, visibly dejected and upset. Russia continued," You jostled it so much, I needed to make sure it was straight, да? Humans are frail, it's so easy for them to cripple their bodies. Missing limbs, crushed heads, for you, most likely a crooked leg. I was helping you, да? That's all I ever do for people."

"Y-yes Mr.Россия, I u-understand you were trying to help..." At least, I hope he was... "But you just grabbed it a little hard and it surprised me is all..." Suki hesitated on speaking, so taken back that his actions weren't actually done out of malice. He actually seemed almost, dejected? That certainly wasn't what the teen had been expecting. She thought he was going to give some sort of snippy remark along the lines of 'it was your own fault' etc etc, but that...that wasn't what she had assumed was going to occur. "Thank you for putting a splint on it sir...you just need to be a little careful when you grab it, it's very, very, sore." She said softly, her voice almost showing the curiosity of what her mind was thinking about. Maybe he just didn't understand what he was doing...

A hair-raising smile crossed his lips as he hummed in approval at her words of gratitude and understanding. Patting the leg, Russia responded," Да, I bet it hurts a lot." He kept his grin while she cringed in pain. Grabbing a cake and popping it in is mouth happily, he seemed oblivious to her being in pain despite having just agreed her leg was very sore. "Lucky for you, I'm good at setting broken bones. I've done it many times. Many, many times." The supposed to be reassuring statement came off as more creepy than heartening, like usual.

The girl cringed at the sentence. "That's...good to know...good to know..." She whispered, holding her arms around her waist in a poorly spoken attempt at gratitude. Though she wasn't very hungry, she still nibbled on a few pieces of food on the plate that was offered, and sipped slowly on her drink. She didn't want a rerun of what happened last time he offered her food and she had to refuse.

"Да, good to know," He agreed inattentively, no longer holding interest in the current conversation. "... Сукй, what's your worst memory? One that makes you desolate and depressed, or furious... s-see red," he asked almost unable to get out the last word as he realized just how many of his memories had him seeing red, and in so many different ways. Russia grabbed a piece of golubtsy quickly and began to munch on it, trying to keep his mind off his own memories.

"..." Suki had to take a moment to think, caught off-guard by the question. Up until then, the large country hadn't bothered to ask anything about her. She took a moment to think.

"...my worst memory would...would have to be when my mother left..." the teen whispered, as if afraid to speak. She thought about her words carefully, as if her voice was chanting a spell, and one false word would strike her dead. "No, no...long before she left, *asthatwasarathergoodthing*. I would have to say the entirety of my childhood until my dad up and was rid of her." the woman finished her sentence with a sharp cut to her words, far more to say, but little need to say it, more so with her present company. "She ruined everything; made my older brother leave the house after school. Haven't seen him…in a long time."

"Your mother was a terrible person? Hmm, I never had a mother. Зима raised me, as one could guess, he was very cold," Russia said, tagging on in his head,' In more ways then one.' With a shake of his head, he cheerfully said," But I do not wish to talk about me, let's talk more about you, да?" His strained smile looked slightly less false as he was about to ask her a question, but he instead looked down with mild surprise. "Oh," He said simply as he caught his falling heart, it making a soft, wet sound as it landed in his hands.

Suki blinked when she saw it. Once, twice, and then her eyes widened like plates. She stiffened. There were no words in her mouth, not a sound coming out as Suki suddenly felt like she had lost the ability to speak from the incredible bout of shock and partial disgust of the extremely odd, extremely random happening. "...?" She could only stare in a scream-less confusion and question, eyes darting back and forth to Russia's face, to the small, sad organ in his hands, then back to his face. She would have asked what the hell that was (though she was already well aware WHAT it was; all for the reason of just asking) but since the girl couldn't really find the words, her physical reactions sure made up for it.

What a curious reaction. "Сукй, is something wrong?" He asked, letting his hands clutching his heart drop to his lap. Why was she all of a sudden speechless and looking shocked? Had he said something wrong? Russia shivered slightly as cold air passed his vulnerable heart. He'd have to stoke the fire a little more.

She blubbered out several incoherent words, not at all able to properly allow her curious, more so shocked words come from her lips. "Y...your heart..." She finally managed to mutter near silently, still staring with wide saucer-eyes until her brain managed to catch up to her eyes. Suki had to take a few deep breaths, steadying herself to the realities of earth as she attempted to comprehend how the hell that was even possible, for such an important organ to just *pop* out of a man's chest as if it was some sort of crudely sewn strip of wet cloth. He's not really HUMAN, Suki tried to remind herself, he's the country in human form, so this may actually be possible/normal to him... After taking another breath to right herself and her shock, the girl finally stated, in a fairly convincing tone of calmness "...Your heart just p...popped out of your chest..."

"Да, it did," He confirmed as if there could possibly be another answer of what happened when he was holding a pounding, throbbing heart, albeit it's beat was weak. Even the small organ, devoid of a brain for thinking, seemed downcast and miserable. Russia smiled and held up his heart to Suki, offering," Would you like to see it better?" His stilted smile was nervous, remembering the last time his heart had been seen by another, everyone present at the meeting disgusted and fearful. (France having thought it was someone else's heart, but Russia hadn't carted around another's heart for a while...)

"I...I can touch it...?" Suki managed to whisper after a few long moments. Sure, the girl had to be honest, she was slightly scared and disgusted with that idea. But yet, she was all the more curious. Anything of that sort would have an ordinary man dead. Then again, as Suki was quickly and forcibly learning, Russia was by no means, an ordinary man. "B-but won't that hurt you?" She soon added, still in a whisper. Though curiosity bit at her fingertips to feel the odd, weak, almost pitiful beating organ, worry also nipped at the front of her mind.

Russia cringed at the thought, but then shook his head. "Нет, I do not think so. Not anymore than most every day hurts," He replied, quieting as he said this. Holding his heart in one hand, he grabbed her hand with the other, bringing the two close to each other. His heart rate raised as he held his breath, waiting for the soft fingers to brush against his heart. He nervously wondered what it would feel like, he hadn't ever let a human touch his heart, and Lithuania had only caught it once (Want to talk about freaked out of his mind, Lithuania was to tears in T minus one seconds) when Russia was too depressed to do so himself and he was numb to everything at that point. What if it did hurt?

With an obvious hesitance, Suki allowed him to bring her hand closer to the meekly-pulsing organ, frightened, but also curious at what it would feel like. "O...Ok..." she mumbled to herself, slowly allowing just the tips of her fingers to graze across its dull red surface. The small organ was most definitely alive, warm, but beating weakly; oddly, it also held a numbing coldness at the same time, making the girl want to know more about such an odd thing. Her first touches were light, testing, she praying that she wasn't hurting Russia.

"Да- да, да it hurts," He lied as the shock of the gentle strokes hit him. He didn't know what else to say, he wasn't sure exactly what it felt like. It felt so... hot and while uncomfortable, almost nice... Hurriedly pulling it out of her grasp, he tried to catch his now racing breath. Assessing her reaction to this, and the ghostly warmth fading on his heart, he changed his mind. "Нет, I- I lied," He shakily said, putting his heart back in range for her to touch it again.

Her eyes traveled back from his own purple orbs, to the heart again. His reactions were odd. Was he in any pain from what she had done? Finally disagreeing with that, seeing as he even said himself that he lied about it hurting, she slowly reached her fingers for it again. Very confused, but very curious yet again, she grazed her fingertips along the weak organ again, though this time a little more courage permeated through her hands, and a slight more pressure pushed against the meek heart. "I...It's not hurting you, is it Россия?" She whispered, voice showing how worried she was for him. Granted that he had done quite a few things to her in the past days, it still wouldn't justify if she hurt him in that way, when his heart was -literally- weak and vulnerable.

"Нет..." He flinched as the gentle strokes fluttered against his heart, or was his heart fluttering? He didn't know, he didn't care. He'd never felt anything like it, he didn't know how to react to it. This was too foreign, he didn't like it. Actually, he did like it, but... it couldn't be explained.

Blushing, Russia slowly took his heart away and held it to his chest. "You're... You're too warm. I don't like it- it feels weird," He mumbled, his confusion clearly conveyed. Popping it back where it belonged he continued to mutter," Hmm, да, you must be tired. I'll leave you... You can sleep, I'll be, да... I'll just be in another room..." His incoherent speech became more so for the american as he switched over to Russian for a few more jumbled sentences. Deciding he said enough to justify his sudden escape, he bolted for the door, praying she wouldn't speak up. He wanted to answer nothing, to just forget about her existence and the dancing warmth that had played with his heart.

The woman blinked as she heard him speak in a half English and half Russian mutter, confused and curious why he was acting so. Then like a flash of light, he hurried out of the room before she had so much of time to even try asking a question, leaving her to wonder what exactly had just occurred. Why was he so odd all of a sudden? Though Suki was incredibly curious to know, she didn't have enough will or energy to continue entertaining the thought. Besides, if she really wanted to run after him, she couldn't, the low throb of pain in her broken leg reminded her of that.

One way or another, the Russian had left the room, leaving her to sit and think to herself, which was a nice thing she had to admit; it gave her alone time to think and make sense of everything that was whirlwinding around her like a hurricane. Questions about it all stirred deep in her brain, she raising her hand to blue eyes as she thoughtfully examined the tips of her digits, as if they held some sort of answer to any of her wonderings. But alas, the provoking thought only spurred more questions, all of which she was far too tired to ask. And with that, the girl slowly and painfully lain on her back, staring up at the ceiling until a slow shroud of darkness overcame her, and pulled her off into a nearly blissful unconsciousness, her dreams filled not with darkness, but only with questions.

Collapsing onto his bed, Russia covered his face as he held back his tears of frustration. He was so confused. She was bringing back all these terrible memories, but he desperately wanted her to stay. And that feeling still lingering on his heart... It... It was... He placed a hand over his chest, his ever present blush deepening. He just didn't understand the feelings rushing through him. Maybe the problem was that she care-... She cared about him? That must be it. She had said she'd forgiven him, and when he'd let her touch his heart she was so tentative and careful, afraid to hurt him.

With a sigh, Russia stripped down to an under shirt and boxers, setting his precious scarf safely on his night table, and readied himself for sleep. He wouldn't be able to make sense of this right now, he was exhausted. Tending to her leg, cooking for her, he had spent much time last night leaking into today taking care of her. Unlike usual, he actually welcomed sleep as it washed over him.


	4. Home Sweet, Bloody Home

A!N (Suki): This...well, it speaks for itself really D: To date in this Rp, this part has to be the...bloodiest so far. Though I will have to say, it's pretty realistic. I mean, we all know how Russia is, and with Suki in there, violence is bound to ensue at some point or another. But that simply means for plot development and character struggle. Can't say I feel worse for one or for the other of these two poor souls D:

One thing I do wonder; _what's Alfred going to think once she finally get's home?_...That is, if she_ ever_ is able to return home. (Just a tidbit you could ponder on, though as the master Rper for Suki, I however already know XD)

**Warning**: _There is a good amount of violence and blood in this chapter. Please don't read if it sickens or offends you._

_**_Remember, reviews/suggestions are love!_**_

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><p><em><strong>Chapter 4: Home. Sweet, Bloody Home.<strong>_

_**(Домой. Сладкий, Кровавая Главная.)**_

"Кол кол кол," Russia chanted, grabbing her left bicep and forcefully shaking the woman. It was 21:39, only a few hours since they had fallen asleep, and Russia had woken up violently just minutes ago. He had raced to Suki's room, taking only the time to secure his cherished scarf around his neck before rushing to her. His breath came short and his eyes were red and puffy as if he had been crying. "Сукй, wake up. Now. It's important."

Having a blissful, shadowless sleep, the girl was awakened quickly and violently. She groaned and tried to turn on her side at first to escape the shaking, but the crashing pain of her splinted leg argued for that. Giving out another groan, that time in pain, the girl started to slowly open her eyes. They drifted towards the man next to her when consciousness allowed. She heard his voice, seeming frighteningly shaken for some odd reason. Suki was confused.

"Россия, what's wrong?" the girl mumbled, coherent sentences starting to come to her as she grew more and more awake. "You...you look like you've been crying..." it was a simple observation, but for some strange reason it really frightened her. Had he come to take out his fears of his past memories out on her again? The thought made her shiver, but she kept her eyes as strong as possible.

"Н-Нет, of course not," He began, a lie, but then shook his head, that wasn't important right now. "That's not the matter, Сукй." Taking her hand with both of his he asked," Вы заботитесь обо мне?" With frustration, he muttered," О, американский..." Taking a deep breath Russia tried again," Do you care about me?" His grip on her hand was becoming exponentially more intense, her hand starting to make small grinding sounds under the stress. He began his mantra again, rejecting the dream he had waken from that was trying to pry itself back into his mind.

That was definitely NOT what the woman was expecting to hear from him. Suki was more prepared to hear anything along the lines of some sort of memory or story, or possibly something about the howling blizzard outside, but his question severely caught her off guard. It took her brain a few seconds to comprehend what he was asking, not even getting to her response. But, how was she supposed to even respond? Did she care? Why would he even want to know that?

What was even stranger than his question, was that she didn't immediately respond with a denial. "I...I do care Россия," her voice mumbled, unfiltered by her mind before she could really stop it. After the words left her mouth, the girl almost stopped breathing. Was that how she really felt? Surely that couldn't be true. Her broken bones would protest to such an affectionate emotion towards him. But yet...she couldn't deny her words. She was silent after she spoke, making no attempt to change her response, oddly starting to agree to it.

His breathing evened out a bit as he sighed, "O xорошо." Russia smiled sweetly, resting his head next to her hand that was still being crushed. He started in Russian, but quickly switched over to English and explained," I had a terrible dream, you left me to be alone and by myself because you didn't care. I knew Сукй was different though. She cared." In a whisper, he added," The only one who does."

"Hmm, but even she didn't, Зима would keep her with me, да?" He mumbled mostly to himself with glee. "And she can't run far. Сукй must stay with me for so long. This is such good news... Спасибо Сукй, спасибо вам за заботу..."

"Y-you're welcome Россия..." She whispered, wincing slightly at his amazingly strong grasp on her hand. Such an odd man he was, Suki had to admit many times over. Though his words and phrases were frightening and almost drawing on the point of obsessive and creepy, the young woman couldn't help but feel sympathy for the man. She stared into his eyes, those deep purple orbs that held so much sadness and fright, layered over again and again after many years of obvious torment. And to think that he'd be so rattled by a nightmare of her leaving (as much as she still wanted to in the back of her head), was very, very...sweet? Was that the word she was searching for? Oh well, he at least meant -mostly- well.

"TH-though you can let go of my hand a tad bit, I'm not going to run away," She tried to laugh lightly, feeling her hand start to grow incredibly numb in his amazingly strong grip. It was so incredibly strange, but Suki found the man's reaction to it all endearing, and almost cute, well, after you got past all the bone-breaking, pain-inducing, nightmare-fueling rage he could unleash upon her without so much as a drop of a dime's worth of provocation.

"Да," Russia agreed abstractedly, letting go of her hand and abandoning his spot beside the bed. "I need no more of your time." He had gotten the answer he was looking for. Stopping at the doorway and hesitantly looking back, he said," Сукй should get sleep, да? Nighttime should be spent resting or enjoying oneself with friends, and you clearly don't enjoy the latter. Being up so late... If you need assistance, I could lend help. I have many tools to do so." He gave a disturbing smile and waited for a moment regarding her answer. Not actually leaving her time to respond, he left, blushing as he murmured," ... Спокойной ночи Сукй."

She watched as the man again rush out of the room, giving her absolutely no time to protest to his assumption about friends (though it made her confused; why should she even care what he thought of her? It was beginning to get weird in her head). Finding nothing else to respond with, she simply called out, "Goodnight Россия, please sleep well," in a small, almost pained voice as her leg started to throb again. Then she sighed, unsure if he had heard her in the first place, then allowed her body to lay back down again as the girl once again tried to let her consciousness drift off into a foggy dream.

"Сукй," Russia repeated, his voice barely above a whisper. "Сукй," He spoke softly once again. The nation glanced over at her clock reading 1:52 in bright red numbers. "C-Сукй, wake up..." He hadn't been in the same frantic rush to get to his guest when he woke up from the recurring dream, but the urgency for her to awaken was definitely still there. With an upset sigh, Russia considered raising his voice, the thing holding him back being that she seemed a little distressed the way he wakened her last time.

"Проснись," He pleaded, then sighed as he realized he would get nowhere this way. Taking hold of his water spigot he'd brought along (he liked having it at hand, it calmed him down), he tapped her broken leg none too gently.

Suki screamed awake when she felt a sudden burst of horrid pain careen up her body, from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. Her eyes shot open, and she almost immediately sat forward and up, pupils small and constricted from the sudden pain. "Wh-what the hell?" She asked herself from her odd and out bursting awakening, until she took sight of Russia standing close to her. Then suddenly she quieted down, her eyes staring slowly and cautiously at the country, wondering what he wanted now.

"P-Россия..." She whispered, obviously startled as she bit her lip so the pain would at least start to fade. "Wh-what do you need now...?" Her voice only grew more quiet and worried when she noticed the lead spigot he held in his hand, the blood rushing away from her face in silent paling fear.

"You're mine, да? You promised you won't try to leave, да?" Taking her in his arms, he explained," I had the same dream. You left and you didn't care... Кол кол кол кол..." He held her close as he sat on the bed behind her, an arm around her waist and one across her chest and latching on to her shoulder. "Don't worry though... I know that's not true... Сукй won't leave me, she can't leave me," He said joyfully, nuzzling his forehead where her shoulder and neck met. If possible, his grip on her tightened fueled by paranoia that she was indeed trying to leave. Russia uncurled his arm from around her waist, it holding his favorite lead pipe, and raised it to her neck, letting the cold metal rest on her pale skin. "Нет, Сукй said she cared, she won't leave... She'll never leave."

The girl, feeling more and more scared and creeped out by the man's sudden turn-around of emotions, as well as just how close he was getting to her, shivered violently. She whimpered near silently when she felt the icy chill of the metal press against her sensitive skin of her neck, the fear and worry about what was spurring this from the Russian man's head becoming to much to think about. "Y-yeah..." Suki whispered, as if mentally trying to will the man to take away the cold pipe from her neck. "You d-don't have to worry about it Россия sir...I...I won't leave..." She didn't make eye contact, didn't even bother to turn her head as she kept her voice strong and convincing. It was circumstantially very, very true. She wouldn't leave (partly because she literally couldn't), but she at least hoped that the other would soon start to understand that. His quick changes in thought and ranging paranoia of her departure was downright frightening.

"Хорошо, xорошо," Russia mumbled as he rested his head against the headboard, pulling her with him as he leaned back. Dropping the spigot onto her lap, he let his arm resume its position around her waist. Yawning, he tightened his grip like one would with a teddy bear. "Спокойной ночи Сукй," He said for the second time that night, smiling as he relaxed drowsily.

"G-goodnight, Россия..." Suki said with barely hidden unease. Though he was showing now outward anger, distaste, or any otherwise dark emotion, the young woman still felt cautious. Her body fidgeted awkwardly, she unsure if she really could fall asleep, as much as her body really craved for it. It wasn't that she wasn't comfortable. On the contrary; the Russian's big strong arms were soft and almost affectionate as they lay around her waist, like a child with their most prized teddy. All in all, it wasn't the worst place to fall asleep. The only troubles that she had were that of the mental sort. It could have been a little paranoid for her to think that he'd wake up and have some sort of episode while she slept, and the idea of that water spigot being in his arms reach didn't help her thoughts at all. But then again, maybe Suki was just overreacting about it. Well, if she had only just met him a little while ago, the woman would have easily downplayed her fears. But, after getting to know this odd bipolar man, thoughts fears were less and less seemingly unreal. She fidgeted a little more, trying to get comfortable enough to try and fall asleep.

His smile warming, Russia decided now he should be able to sleep just fine. Oblivious to the other's discomfort, Russia slipped to the darkness of dreams, hopefully for the duration of the night- well early morning.

Light shone through the laced draperies, catching Russia's eyes. Groaning lightly, he adjusted so that it didn't, tightening his grasp on Suki as he did so. As a result, the spigot fell to the ground making a clatter, just daring its owner to wake up. Russia groaned again, dragging his guest along as shifted away from the loud, annoying sound. "Громкий, раздражающий звук," he complained under his breath, willing himself to hold on to sleep's clutches.

Suki, who had (finally) been sleeping peacefully, woke up with a startling, but quickly becoming familiar, pain in her leg. She cried out lightly in pain when she was pulled along with Russia's large and powerful body, unable to fight against when the too lay on her side, broken leg in a painful, awkward position.

"Шуша," Russia whispered softly, his eyes having to work harder and harder to stay shut, reaching distractedly for the source of her pain to correct it so he could get some sleep. Wrenching her leg back to where it had been, ignoring to do so with the rest of her body and making it even worse, he mumbled," Why are американцы so loud in the morning...?" He didn't bother to acknowledge she could have easily been louder; just that she had made any noise at all.

Trying to withhold a whimper of further pain careening from her broken leg, Suki twitched, her whole body trying to fight against her restraint to not make a sound as he just complained about. "Hmm..." She whimpered again, absolutely hating how his hand rested on her leg, the simple amount of pressure compiled with the odd angle (which had got only odder to her) making it almost unbearable to handle. Then, with a weak protest, she tried to pull Russia's hand from her leg so she could at least straighten it out more, relieve a little of the horrendous pain.

Frowning at her apparent unwillingness to let him help (even if 'help' was highly arguable) he pushed down harder, grumbling," Сукй should be grateful I'm helping." Finally opening eyes in defeat (Looks like he wouldn't be getting any more sleep after all) he glanced at the woman in his arms. Smiling, he let go of her leg so he could pet her head and cooed," That's all right though, I understand. You're just not used to receiving such kindness." He nuzzled the back of her neck, holding on to her even tighter than before as if she could run and escape.

The woman whimpered again in pain, moving away her hands instinctively when he pressed down harder, hoping that he'd stop. She nearly wanted to gag at the sound of his voice, it lulling into her ears like a sickly sweet murmur. Whether he was simply oblivious to the pain he was causing her, or simply didn't care, was very debatable. With a light, nearly unseen shiver as the man nuzzled her neck, she silently wished that he'd just simply lighten his grip; she was on the verge of almost not being able to breath, his grip rivaling how a little child with clench their arms around a beloved teddy while another child threatened to take it away. It would have been endearing had a little oxygen been able to make it up to Suki's brain so it could process it as such.

"Should we get some breakfast? Well, I get breakfast and bring it back, seeing as Сукй can't walk because of her leg?" Russia partially released Suki to pat her leg for punctuation, but hesitated with a small frown. Laying his hand gently on her lap, and for once not crushing her, he stared pensively at her leg, his chin resting on her shoulder. "I should do a full check on your leg, maker sure all is good, да? It might be bad should your leg heal wrong." He pulled at her skirt, letting the expensive material rise to show a little leg.

Her eyes shooting open like warning lights, the girl quickly pushed back down her skirt, she then trying to pull her body away until she felt herself pulled back by the man. "WH-what are you doing?" She yelped out, whipping her head around, face full of shock and worry when her eyes shot straight at his own, staring at him. "D-don't do that!" Feeling suddenly insecure and almost shamed under the action, whether it was simple innocence or not, Suki gripped her skirt, keeping down to her knees firmly. The pain in her leg protested so many actions, but with a growing feeling of heat in her cheeks, the woman would not let him simply pull up her dress, looking at her leg or not.

"Кол кол кол кол... Сукй rejects my hospitality...?" He asked, the smile adorning his face reaching a new and terrifying level insincerity. "How does Сукй think I wrapped her leg in the first place, hmm?" Pushing her away from him and to the side (very close to actually pushing her off the bed... again) he stood up and loomed over her so his height could be factored in to her response. "Сукй likes Россия, да? Да? Or is she a liar like her country...?"

Suki gulped, her body shivering in fear at the obviously tall man's (working) attempts at intimidation over her. She didn't know what to do, so she settled on not doing anything besides staring up at him in fear. Oh how she must have looked like a scared kitten, all her courage as well as dignity having been completely sucked out of her in the past days. "I...I am n-not a l-liar..." She started in a fearful whimper, shaking hands still clutching onto her skirt. "I-I just don't w-want you touching my sk-skirt..." There could have been so many other ways Suki could have said it, some that were probably better and in better explanation than what she had said, but she definitely couldn't think of it at that time.

Russia glared at her with his smiley face, debating how to handle this situation. "I'm taking care of your leg," He decided, then added on," Perhaps you can change clothes first." He left her bedside, heading over to Ukraine's closet. Russia carelessly grabbed a pair of shorts, not bothering to choose any specific pair and a white blouse go with it. Taking in Suki's much... thinner figure in chest and hips, he added a belt and suspenders to his small bundle of clothes.

Dropping them unceremoniously on her lap, he asked," Will that please you, little girl?" He picked his beloved spigot off the ground with a wide grin and told her," I'll give you three minutes to change, да? Dress fast." He slung the pipe over his shoulder and tilted his head cutely. "I'll be back." With that, he left the room to grab some new supplies including better fitted splints and new wrappings.

Not even sure how to start, or even begin to respond to what the man had just said and did, the girl sat there in shock. She shivered in a fading fear, her blue orbs staring down lightly at the clothes he had given her. Shorts, a blouse, belt and suspenders. For anybody else, such an outfit would have been perfectly easy to get on. Not for her of course, with that leg, which was by then still throbbing in horrid pain. "H-how am I supposed to switch into this in three minutes...?" The girl timidly asked herself, already starting to tug at the dress on her. Barely remembering how she had even managed to get it on in the first place, Suki simply started to tug and pull a the front, searching for a zipper of some sort to help remove the clothing. Eventually, she did locate it. The only problem that it proved, was it was on the back of the dress. After reaching around her hands to attempt to pull at it, Suki found it was going to be far more difficult than she had originally perceived. She wasn't sure how much time had passed when she had gotten that far in changing, though then again, by the time she had managed to pull the zipper down slightly, the woman was far more focused in simply getting the dress off.

After a nice chunk of time (barely two minutes, but eh, who was keeping track anyways?) Russia knocked on the door with his lead pipe, it resounding the sounds with much more ambiance then his fist would. "I'm coming in Сукй," He announced, turning the handle.

With the dress already starting to drop, pooling around her hips when his voice sounded out was not the best of things the woman wanted to hear. Trying to stand up on one leg to allow the dress to fall to her feet and she hurriedly trying to pull the blouse over her head, the woman called out in shock, "Pl-please don't come in! I'm not ready!" Though she doubted the man to bother heeding her, she at least hoped that the damned blouse would listen to her and get over her head. She just barely managed to get that on when she heard him walk through the door, and in fear she quickly grabbed the blankets from the bed next to her to cover her lower-half, the dress getting slightly tangled around her feet as it fell the rest of the way to the ground.

Taking in the obviously rushed scene, Russia stared at the (amusingly bashful) girl and smiled as he assured," Don't worry, I'm patient." He turned around and waited for her to finish up dressing. Briefly, he wondered how much longer it would take her to finish dressing. It wasn't like he gave her particularly hard clothes to get in. He shrugged it off, trying to find some other thought (that was more interesting) to bide his time with.

It was painful, but she hurriedly got on the blouse correctly, and managed to slip on the shorts with minimal whimpers of absolute terrible pain. Then the belt and suspenders soon followed, to which Suki noticed how much she needed them. The woman was amazed; whoever wore those clothes were certainly...filled out. She almost had to do a double-take at the sizes of them all, and then decided to keep her wonderings to herself, just get the clothes on fast. Within a few more minutes of painful but muffled cries as she managed to get the outfit on, the young woman sighed, slowly sitting back onto the bed. "I-I'm done changing now Россия..."

"Хорошо," He acknowledged, turning towards her and walking over. Setting down the needed items besides his patient, he began to unwrap the previous wrappings. Russia gently prodded here and there, making sure swelling wasn't too bad and gauging her responses for more knowledge. His aura was very serious, his childish smile intact but much more focused on the job at hand then he usually seemed. There was a science to it (obviously. There were about a million different kinds of doctors, all learning their own specific medical sciences) and one Russia was rather adept in. He had many years of practice and many to practice on.

After setting aside the large pile of used bandages, he carefully removed the broom handle that he had used in a pinch and placed two better fashioned splints on either side of the leg. Russia gently tied strong pieces of material, two on her upper leg and three on the lower half, to keep them in place. Each holder started from beneath her leg, twisting at the top, coming back around and being knotted at the top in small, effective water knot. He was cautious to avoid tying them directly on the break, instead placing them where they would support it on either side the most advantageously. "Are they too tight?"

"N-no..." she whispered, wincing softly at the acute pain shooting through her legs as he was getting the splint together. "It's f-fine..." The girl, though pained, was amazed that the man could perform such feats of medicine. It was as if he had some sort of degree for it. Or he's just done it so many times that he knows it so well...As much as Suki really didn't want to ponder on that part of her thought, she still had to at least agree it could also be true. She watched on in silence as the man continued on with finishing up the splint, being both fearful of him, but grateful at the same time.

Nodding as he acknowledged her response, he grabbed some elastic bandages and rolled it around her foot. The key was to start tight and gradually get looser after the ankle, that would make the best brace and keep swelling to a minimum. Russia figure-eighted the material at the joint then continued a little further, finishing half way up the lower leg and using a metal clip to fasten it in place. It overlapped the brace, partially to better keep the brace more secure. Russia started a new wrap just below the knee to just above the knee, keeping it as tight as possible to limit any minute movement. After clipping it, he looked up tentatively. "Does it feel alright?"

"Y-yeah..." Suki lied slightly, the same pain still jolting through her leg. She didn't dare even tell the man, not sure how he'd react or what he would do to help (*coughorhurtcough*) it. "It's fi-fine Россия..." She whispered softly, looking down at the splint on her leg, amazed with the other's great handiwork with such a thing. He sure had a lot of practice. The woman managed to mostly muffle a tiny whimper of pain when she pushed herself farther back on the bed, far liking the idea of laying down to standing up.

"... I got a call from Литва, apparently he has to spend more time in Vienna than he originally planned, and Латвия wont be back from Ottawa for a while... Эстония is staying at Финляндии house for a while to plan some festival..." Russia unexpectedly said as he sat on the foot of the bed. "They probably wont come back even when they can though," he sighed, letting his gaze fall to the floor. "Ever since '91... they stay as distant as they can... I don't understand, we used to be a family, why don't they want to be with me...? Украина too, and Молдова, Азербайджан, Киргизия..." He trailed off not wanting to rehash the memories of it all.

Suki sat silently on the bed, listening as the man whispered to himself. She tilted her head after a few moments, scooting warily, but slowly closer to him. "..." She was not sure at all in how to respond to his poor desolate whispers, though she decided that simply sitting next to him with a slow pat on his shoulders would hopefully be enough that she could do.

Looking over at Suki, he didn't know what to do. She was attempting to console him again. Before her, no one had done that in a long time. "Many have said they care, but they always leave me. Always," He wrapped up with. "Кол кол кол кол кол..." Russia picked up his spigot, readying himself to smash her other leg. He really liked her trying to console him, it made feel special, loved. He'd just have to secure her inability to leave and everything would be solved. Everything would be all better again.

Suki gasped in fear when she eyed up him picking up that water spigot, her once tired eyes widening like large dinner plates. "Р-Pоссия, what a-are you doing?" She whimpered, backing slightly away like a wounded animal about to get kicked again. The woman pulled her arm back and held it against her chest, face looking frightened as she shivered, unknowing if she had done the right or wrong thing in backing away when he was obviously scheming already.

"It's obvious, нет? I don't want you to leave, and people can still escape with only one broken leg," He said jovially, a wicked but innocent smile emerging. He swung and caught her across the cheek, sending her head careening to the side, and laughed lightly. "Кол кол кол... There, now there will be no pain," He lied," But just to make sure..." He raised it high above his head aiming directly for her skull.

It stung. It hurt and stung and screamed and HURT so incredibly bad. Suki was still in shock after the first blow across her cheek that she barely had time to register the threat and impending, looming threat of the next. Like a wounded rabbit she pushed her body backwards, feeling hot wet tears of fear already starting to fall down her cheeks. "Россия please, NO!" She screamed out, voice breaking in her near beg, arms raised to her face in a possible fruitless attempt to protect herself. Fear and utter sadness flared inside of her body. "Please don't hit me! I won't do anything, please just-just don't!" The sobs got louder, the pain of her now throbbing leg, and the fear of the man looming over her fueling her words for all it was worth.

"Нет, извините Сукй, everyone must learn," He said calmly, never actually specifying what she was learning, as he dropped the the heavy object on her ribcage to hopefully damage her breathing. Then she couldn't protest as well. No protest meant no problem, right? He definitely wanted nothing bad for Suki, she was so kind to him. "Красота, Сукй bleeds so much," he whispered, bringing a hand to her cheek to caress it fondly and watching as blood covered his hand.

She couldn't breath. Pain. Pain was EVERYWHERE. In her legs, in her head, in her chest and in her entire being. It hurt so damn bad; Suki felt her lungs burn like a wildfire, but as much as she really tried, she could barely get even the tiniest breath into her lungs. Her tears continued to flow down her cheeks, mixing into a salty red solution as it came into contact with her red flowing blood. All she could do was stare at the man in fear, her eyes wanting to close so she could escape that hell, but keep them open so she would know when the final blow of death would envelope her. Oh god, just let it end. Just let all the pain end.

Running his hand through her hair in a way that in almost any other context would have been comforting, he cooed," Сукй, don't cry." Laying down and forcing her to right along side him, he whispered," You have nothing to cry about, I'm here. I'll protect you. I'll keep you safe. We'll be happy together and with no more loneliness, да...?" He kissed her forehead gently and hugged her tightly.

Suki would have gasped in pain had he not been crushing her chest, so instead she could barely get out a thin pathetic whimper. "H…..s-st…." Not even a single word could be pulled from her pained lips, the girl having absolutely no strength to fight against the stronger man. She mentally screamed in pain, feeling the internal cracking of her ribs from the prior hit grow only more painful. His lips felt cold against her forehead, and though she tried to shiver against the chilly feeling, the young woman was far too pained and tired to even bother.

"Speechless?" Russia laughed then said," That's okay, I know how hard it is to conjure up words of happiness and gratitude." Russia rested his forehead against her neck, and tentatively asked," You are happy, да? ... Нет, that was a stupid question... Y-You have to be. Правда?" He kissed just below her collar bone, raising an arm to stroke her hair once more. Grabbing hold of a large chunk of hair, he tugged it sharply repeating," You're happy, да?"

Suki gasped for oxygen when his grip around lightened only for a second, willing with everything she had for the fresh intake of breath to course through her crying lungs, praying with everything she had that she wasn't somehow dying from internal bleeding. With all the pain and torture agonizingly pacing through her small frame, it was very easy to believe that was what was occurring. After getting her lungful of glorious air, the girl only lay limply against the man, not even having the strength to cry. His words were the coldest she ever had heard before, coupled with the pain that he was causing, and whether or not his twisted mind realized such, she'd never say she was happy. That would be too much of a blow for her dignity to take. So instead, she continued her shallow breathing in silence, a slight whimper of pain sounding out every once in a while.

"I have much paper work to do, but do not worry, I'll be back as soon as I can. You just wait here," He said with a pleasant voice, propping himself up on his elbows and kissing her forehead again. He smiled lightly, fixedly interpreting Suki's reactions as joyful. She had to be. Running a thumb across her bloodied cheek, his smile widening, he gingerly tucked hair behind her ear and whispered reassuringly in Russian," Don't worry, I'll be back." With that, he left the room, spigot in hand leaving a ruddy trail as he dragged it across the floor.

Laying on the bed, face covered in blood, Suki couldn't do anything. Sure, she could breath (barely) but that was about it. Her chest burned with a blazing fire, face stinging worse than anything else she had ever felt before. It was like an absolute hell on earth, her body screaming out in agony that the man had plunged her into. Words couldn't even pass her bloody lips, a feeling of absolute exhaustion raved over her limbs and mind, whispering for her to fall into a feeling of unconsciousness. But as much as she truly wanted to, the young woman found herself unable; maybe it was the pain, or maybe it was the fear; she wasn't sure.

It was a few hours later when Russia opened her door, smiling and asking," Как поживаете, Сукй?" Closing the distance between them, he interestedly lifted her shirt, just short of revealing her breast. He pressed gently on the skin that was already turning a light violet-blue. "Mmm... That doesn't look so good," he mumbled to himself in Russian.

The girl was just barely awake, having used some mental tricks to at least soften the pain while she hovered on a near unconscious state, wondering how long she would have to endure the horribly agony that befell upon her body. "Н... Нет..." She mumbled, feeling her shirt slide up her chest to reveal the ugly bruising that he had caused to her. "Don't h-hurt me...do-don't hit me again..." Her voice seemed to tumble from her lips, her mind not bothering to filter the words of simple reaction to his touch after the pain he had caused before.

"Кол кол кол кол..." At those words, he pressed slightly harder then he meant to. He never hurt Suki, why was she accusing him of having done so? With effort, he shrugged it off. Feeling the ribcage more precisely, he frowned and instructed," Breathe as deeply as you can." Beneath the skin, he could feel some sharp shards of bone just above where the 7th rib should be.

"G-GAH!" The girl yelped out in pain, squirming slightly under Russia's pressing palm to her skin. "S-stop!" the woman's eyes tried to both shut tightly and opened wide, pain screaming through her body like a pained animal. "That hurts, stop that!" Seemingly not having heard his words of command, Suki tried to pull herself away from the source of her entirety of pain; Russia.

"Сукй, you might have flail chest. I need you to cooperate," he pleaded, grabbing her securely by the waist and holding her in place. If she moved too much, she'd be in too much pain for him to be able to help her. He needed her feedback to know exactly what was hurting. "So please breathe in deeply, little girl."

Giving off one last pitiful whimper of agony from the growing pressure in her chest, the same pain and difficulty to breath becoming more and more evident to both him and her, Suki barely complied. She took a sorry breath, barely able to raise her chest before letting out what little oxygen she had collected in that pained breath in even more agonizing whimpers. She could barely speak by then, all of her strength having been used to simply gather enough air to keep alive and not die of suffocation.

Russia's tense shoulders visibly relaxed as he carefully watched ribs move up and down correctly. "Хорошо, you don't have flail chest..." As absolutely light as he could, he felt the ribs above and below the broken one. Reaching under her shirt, he hesitantly pushed down, letting his fingers graze as briefly as possible on her bosom, and sighing with relief as he felt nothing wrong with the ribs their, quickly retreating to the broken rib and feeling down her abdomen. "Hmm, you're 7th rib is broken, but 8th and 9th are only fractured. You should be more careful in the future, да? Cracked ribs are so painful along with inhibiting your breathing..."

Backing away from her and turning to leave momentarily, he said," I'll be back with supplies so I can patch you up, да?" Worry could be picked up in his voice. While everything checked out as far as having no flail chest (that would have been incredibly bad), her breathing was very noticeably weaker. He would have to keep an eye on that.

Suki barely acknowledged him, her entire sense of the world around her pulled into a blurry and murky abyss from where she could barely respond. Even the pain was dulled in her groggy state, every sense and touch like a blunt prod against her body, barely feeling. She could only breath so much, feeling a shooting pain in her chest whenever she breathed too deeply. So there she lay, her lungs only able to fill so slightly before she was forced to exhale all that captured glorious oxygen, body too weak to handle the agony. Fingers on hands lay still, not even having the energy to twitch as they lay at the young woman's side.

Returning with more medical supplies (he could very well heal a small army with how much he kept stored, that is, if he didn't kill them with 'kindness' of course) he placed a bag valve mask on the nightstand and setting the other stuff beside his guest on the large bed. "Can you sit up?" He asked sweetly, adding," I can help you. You can lean against the headboard. I just need to be able to wrap your lower chest." He hesitantly poked the unresponsive woman, slightly apprehensive he was too late, only holding on to his thread of sanity by the small audible breaths (which in actuality were bad. It meant she wasn't getting enough oxygen to her lungs) she was taking. "Little girl..."

Suki whimpered slightly when she felt a sharp prod into her stomach, feeling a growing cycle of pain when said whimper only made the pain grow worse. Then, just being able to barely hear the man's orders, the young woman lifted her head to lay it softly against the headboard, she trying with every ounce of her strength and willpower to slowly nudge herself backwards against it. The pain was unrelenting, but Suki did her best to keep her mind on every other thing that even minutely crossed her thoughts. Rabbits, snow, bananas, plains, corn, any random object that could be thought of, she thought. With growing concentration on these odd, random objects, the young woman felt the pain lessen, if only slightly.

Helping her get to the position he wanted, he gently instructed," Exhale as deeply as possible, the longer the better." As she did what he asked, he carefully started to wrap athletic tape around, quietly apologizing as he lifted her shirt up so he could wrap around the rib cage just above the injury. Tying a knot on the uninjured side, he said," This needs to come off in an hour so we avoid pneumonia, да?" He lowered her so she was at a gentle incline with a supportive pillow beneath her and said," This should make breathing easier, we don't want you dying off from lack of oxygen, do we?"

Giving off a slight groan of pain in simple response, Suki closed her eyes and tried to relax the best she could, trying to allow her pained breaths to come lightly and carefully, though that didn't help an overly amount. After giving a few attempts at breathing, though they mostly all came out as ragged, the young woman slowly lifted her eyes to stare into the man's own. Purple meeting blue, Suki's thoughts were dragged away from the intolerable agony in her chest to the incredible confusion in her brain. Again, the same questions she had been asking herself for days about the country popped into her mind, eyes continuing to barely blink as she merely looked at him.

"I would give you водка, it's the best pain killer I know- it kills both kinds- but that thins blood, and that would definitely not be advantageous... This is going to hurt a lot," he said, as he dabbed a cream directly onto her cheek. "It will clean and numb it. You will need that for sure." He held up a curved needle and small black thread and smiled. "You smashed up your cheek so badly the muscle is showing through."

Suki wiggled in place slightly, letting out a thin, weak whine of pain in her cheek. The cream did indeed hurt, a LOT. It was as if she was getting stabbed repeatedly by a knife in the face, twisting and turning with it's hot metal. But instead of beginning to scream, the young woman transferred her pain into actions by clenching her fists around the nearest source of cloth, one hand finding a part of the blanket which was halfway off the bed, and the other tangled into Russia's long scarf.

Frowning as he felt a tug at his neck, Russia froze momentarily. Doing everything he could to not react, he continued to apply the cream, his hands shaking slightly. Finishing, he set the container of the the anesthetic down on the night table, Russia grabbed a piece of sterile cloth, readying it to wipe clean the wound when it was numb enough. He then grabbed the needle and attempted to thread it. That proved a difficult task when one was entering a mental episode. He was determined though (and the centuries of practice helped) and quickly got it through, pulling enough through so it wouldn't come loose and tying a knot at the end.

Suki's eyes traveled warily, moving down from the man's eyes to his neck, the scarf that she still had a hold of (Gosh, it was so soft and warm...), to his shoulder, down his arm, to his hand and finally, to the needle, small and sharp that he held between his digits. The mere sight of the needle forced the girl to squirm just that much more, her unneeded fear of them was racing messages of terror to her already pained brain. Regardless that her cheek was already numbed by the cream, Suki still whimpered as if a young helpless child, wanting to be as far as she could from the medical implement, trying to both push Russia away and pull him closer to feel protected at the same time.

"Нет! N-no! Сукй, don't do that!" He cried out at her near manic tugging on his scarf, one moment getting closer to choking him, the other pushing it back towards him so it loosened. Both ended in it nearly coming off. Realizing the source of her panic was the needle, he quickly tried to pacify it with," This can't hurt you. It helps y-" He hadn't said it quickly enough. The warm fabric was stripped from him, and he didn't exactly take well to it.

Mumbling in Russian, he held a slight whimper to his voice. Dropping the needle and cloth, he grabbed at his neck and bent his head trying to curl up as much as possible. Underneath his fingers were twisting scars, each one pronounced, quite a few alarmingly thick and looking like something no one should have been able to survive. "Кол кол кол кол кол... G-give it back," He ordered with none of the command he usually held, instead it just came out worried and distressed.

There was a sputtering cough, pained and miserable, while Suki managed to push herself up, much to the mental dismay of pain parading through her chest and legs. She could almost feel the bones making the most awful creaking sound within her as the young woman moved, her mind still ablaze at the sudden change of the situation, going from terror of that needle, to the watching as the man in front of her almost broke down before her eyes. Pushing past all the pain, or at least as much as she could, blood again starting to drip down her cheek, rolling in ruby red orbs across her neck, Suki crawled towards the man, hand on the scarf still.

She stared when she leaned down to him, as if her eyes were glazed over, her mind elsewhere than the reality and pain both she and him were apparently going through. With a slightly bloody hand after unthinkingly wiping off her stinging cheek (as the blood was then really flowing), the woman reached for Russia, her words and voice falling into an incoherent gibberish as she tried to comfort him and his odd fear without his scarf.

Russia pushed her away roughly, whispering," I just want my scarf, little girl..." He shook his head and muttered," You're like the rest. You want to hurt me... Why...?" Gazing up at her, his eyes shone with threatening tears. The nation nodded to himself absently. "Извините Сукй, but I can't let you." Russia stood up, grabbing the closest object he could. Holding the clock above his head, he maundered," I just want my scarf... You don't understand... I j-just want... Y-you, you're going to hurt me. Hurt me... I've been helping y-you..." He smiled, creating eerie, blood-curdling dissonance between the joyous expression he wore and the frightening misery in his eyes.

Suki, who was too far gone in pain to even give anymore output of energy of backing away, and simply sat there on her knees, staring up with wide, frightened eyes at the man. She began to shiver violently as orbs lay sighted on the clock, threatening to come barreling down to strike her and (hopefully) maybe (Though she somewhat didn't want it) kill her right on the spot. Catch her on the head perhaps and finally finish the near action that had been going on since the moment she had stepped in the door.

Suki's body continued to tremble violently, until a stabbing pain in her chest caused her to cough harshly. "N-no..." She tried, whispering, which only caused her to cough more. A thick, red liquid began to fill the taste of her mouth, a few drops of it falling onto the bed from her violent coughing. "I'm...n-not..." The woman coughed more, though clenching the scarf to her chest, keeping any of the blood from staining it. After the finished coughing, more blood erupting from her mouth, the girl slowly held out the scarf with a horribly trembling arm, eyes wide in pleading forgiveness regardless that ruby liquid was still trailing down her paling chin.

Russia gazed at her his euphoric/melancholic expression dropping to something unreadable. Letting the clock fall from his hand to the ground by his side, he put a firm hand on her shoulder. Pushing her so the blood was able to leave her mouth easily, he grabbed the bag valve mask and brought it to her mouth, securing it in place. With a (very) practiced hand, he pumped a steady flow of air into her lungs, cautiously making sure to not over inflate the organs.

After stabilizing her breathing, Russia set the mask beside her, knowing full well she could need it at any second. Making her lie down with her head to the side and facing away from him, he sat next to her, shakily grabbing the scarf and wrapping it around his neck. Trying to calm himself, he'd been fighting hysterics this whole time, he muttered to himself in Russian frenziedly.

The young woman tried to breath in little, airy coughs. Though pain was quite a certainty roaring in her brain, she decided that she was far too tired to even bother to deal with it. Frowning with that little she had, the woman whimpered pathetically, and tried to sit up. Finding soon that she couldn't, due to both Russia keeping her down, and her chest hurting more and more with every movement, Suki soon decided against it. Slowly, darkness started to outline her vision, dulling both her thoughts and pain, until she soon rolled into unconsciousness.

Glancing at Suki as she blacked out, he ran a hand through her hair. Russia stared at her and then at the medical supplies. Cleaning her wound again, he quietly stitched her cheek. Running a finger over his handiwork, he smiled.

"Сукй, you are a very troublesome little girl."


	5. Fallen Angels and Frozen Love

**A!N (Suki): **Well, here ye be yet another chapter for the story that (apparently) people seem to like. I thank all of you guys whom are reading it and reviewing in my eternal gratefulness ;n; As a writer, it's such a nice feeling to know people, though may not particularly like it, are reading what one writes. So from me and Momo both: Thank you, all of you!...No, this isn't the last chapter of the story, not in the slightest w This is just the last chapter of Momo and my RP that we aren't working on currently.

**Answers/Responses to Reviews To Date:**

RadicalRadio: Thank you so much for all your kind words! They really mean a lot to the both of us :3 I mean, I'm used to reviews of just a few words, or maybe two sentences at most, but thank you for the detailed reviews you have given us for the story so far; we'd be honored to hear more of your thoughts and critique as the story progresses forward!

Sasha: Thanks so much, fanfiction anon :3 We hope you are enjoying the story~

Aurora rose1001: Ah yes, I know, my use of 'teen' is a tad stretched XD For her cannonocity, Suki is in her early twenties, though yes, as I do know it's incorect, I developed the bad habit of still calling someone a 'teen' to some degree. Hope that cleared up that little bit for ya w Hope you keep enjoying the story as you have been, and don't be afraid to continue reviewing!

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><p><strong><em>Chapter 5: Fallen Angels and Frozen Love<em>**

**_(Падшие ангелы и замороженные любви)_**

A slow, dull, aching pain was what soon awakened the young woman, her body carefully under warm sheets of the bed. The window close to her let a small amount of light through, proving that day had come yet again in it's tantalizing, almost teasing sight, while she stay in a pseudo prison house, bedstricken by injuries. With a careful motion, trying to keep herself from getting hurt even more, the girl merely opened her eyes to look out, slowly circling her sights to take in the whole room, already having all memories of last night's medical emergency spilling through her mind. She blinked a few times as she decided that staring upwards was the least painful. When Suki opened her mouth to yawn, she abruptly halted the motion, almost instantaneous pain coursing through her, reminding her of the stitches that laced through her skin, causing her to wince from both ache and memory.

"Нет Сукй, you shouldn't do that. You might tear you're stitches. We'd have to start over the whole process again. You don't want that," Russia said in a dulcet voice. He sitting next to her and smiling, rubbed her uninjured cheek with his thumb and continued," You've been out for almost seven hours." He started untying the bandages around her ribs, instructing her," You're going to breathe as deeply as you can for a minute or so. We wouldn't want your lungs to collapse, дa?"

The young woman cringed at his last words, wondering how badly that would be a way to go, to slowly suffocate until you would only catch a few glimpse of earth before falling into a dark oblivion...She shivered outwardly at the thought, feeling the large man slowly start to remove her bandages from under the shirt half of her dress, feeling incredibly awkward when his fingertips just barely brushed the underside of her bosoms where the bandage ended. Then, she took a slow, deep breath, before said breath suddenly hitched, pain jolting her body stiff.

"I took the liberty of removing this," He said as he lifted up her bra. "It was constricting your breathing even more than the bandages." He patted her shoulder as she laid tensely, slightly gasping for breath. He dropped the undergarment back to the ground and raised his hand to her sewn up cheek, gingerly tracing the jigsaw of a pattern running across her skin. "Almost time to bandage you up again, little girl."

Suki gulped lightly and continued to take her deep breaths, pausing every now and again when the pain grew too powerful and she had to halt for a second or two. If she had the energy and more of a will too, she would have crossed her arms over her chest in complete self-consciousness as well as embarrassment. Though, she knew the effort would be meaningless, and would only cause pressure and pain to befall on her from the broken bones. Instead, she simply felt a heat rise into her pale cheeks, her dimming blue eyes moving to stare into the other pair, pure purple, and filled with so much underlying pain, they were still so hard to look at.

Petting her head, Russia whispered a little Russian to her, probably something supposed to be soothing. He lifted her shirt again, wrapping her ribs quickly. "This will all be over in quite a few weeks," He said with false reassurance. Tying off the tape, he pulled her shirt back down. Smoothing the shirt out, he let his thoughts drift to the last time he needed to wrap his own ribs, then of the last time he had to set his leg... His expression became somber as he dwelt upon these dark memories.

Suki's body stiffened a few times as she felt the other bandage up her chest again, the sharp pain making her gasp lightly under her already pained breath. Soon though, it seemed that most of the agony was over, and she closed her lids for a few seconds, silently sighing in relief. A few weeks huh? Was that really how long it was going to take for her to recover? Was she really going to be stuck in that mansion for that long? Though she could have felt miserable and homesick at the notion, Suki was too mentally tired to even bother, not to mention the growing gnawing of hunger that distracted her. A low growl sounded from her hungry belly, she wondering how long it had been since she had last eaten.

Either not hearing or ignoring Suki's stomach, Russia dazedly grabbed her shoulder and held on tightly. He mumbled in Russian, staring ahead at nothing in particular. After a minute or two, he blinked and smiled at Suki. Stuttering for words, he managed," It's a beautiful day, дa...?" Out the window one could see that the blizzard had started back up and winds were strong enough to topple small trees. "It-it's nice out... and sunflowers are growing... everywhere..." He laid his head down next to hers. "...and it's so warm..."

Suki shivered lightly at the quickly growing familiar tone of voice, it growing cold and distant, mixed with a very creepy amount of innocence that Suki knew was only slightly true. She did everything possible to not look directly at the man, trying to find other things to hold her attention on, barely even nodding her head in response to his obviously wrong statements. Whether it was his own way of escaping that horrid place, or maybe it was just because he was downright crazy (Suki still had yet to find which was more true), she didn't know, or frankly really care. Unconsciously, she tried to shift her body farther from the other, acting as if she was going to drift back off to sleep so he'd possibly leave her alone.

Wrapping one arm over her, he brought her even closer. "Сукй cares for me. She'll get rid of my pain, дa? It hurts so much, you don't know." He nuzzled her hair and whispered," It's all better now, but its not..." Sure pain left, but it always left small marks, small traces of what used to be there. Centuries of them added up into something even more unbearable then the one single injury that left a small mark. "It's so warm here..." Tears welled in his eyes. "...so warm..."

Her eyes blinked and widened simultaneously, causing the young girl to feel a flurry of odd, almost questionable emotions at the so personal words from the man, feeling his arm clenching tightly, yet not too tight, around her waist. She didn't dare turn around to look at him, not wanting the emotions to grow. They were a combination of many, pity, anger, sadness, and sympathy were all parts that made the confusing blotch of colored feelings in her head. Some were greatly familiar to the girl from the past days, yet others felt completely foreign. She still felt the amazing underlying grudge towards the other, yet at the same time she couldn't help feeling bad for him, for his pain that he was vocalizing. It was...odd.

Russia's pained smile grew as he said," Even my sisters hate me... You do too, don't you? You're just afraid to admit it for some reason..." He trailed off, thinking about what he just said. His grip remained gentle, but tensed as he laughed his strange 'кол' laugh. "Do you like sunflowers?"

The girl gave a small sigh, barely moving her body as she breathed in and out painfully. "Sunflowers...?" She asked lightly, blinking, wondering where such a random question had come from. Images of the tall yellow flowers sprang into her minds eye, she seeing their kind, warm, and glorious yellow golden colors, as sweet as any other warm summer day. How they were tall enough to come all the way to the top of her head and beyond, how their petals flowed and rippled with the flow of the cool wind. "Ye-yes, I do like s-sunflowers..." Hopefully, that was the right answer that he was looking for.

"Хорошо, Сукй can't be all bad then... Even though she's so cruel," He whispered to himself. As Russia saw it, sunflowers currently were the only redeeming factor of America, it only made sense that America's citizen would have it be hers too. Though, as he thought about it, there were many things he was finding himself liking of the woman... Russia sighed, confused by his thoughts, she was an American who couldn't hold her liquor. Standing up, Russia distanced himself from her before mumbling," Сукй hasn't eaten in a long time... I 'll go get her something to eat..."

Upon the simple implying of food, Suki felt incredibly hungry. All the pain and breaking of bones had distracted her time and time again from how long it had been since she had last eaten, and the mere thought of any form of subsistence was absolutely insane. Her stomach gave a low, loud growl, the girl almost wanting to curl up as hunger pangs started to hit her. In some ways, she wished she could return to the pain of broken bones; at least then she didn't feel like gnawing on the bed sheets.

Russia returned with a big bag of chips, a box of swiss cake rolls, and a can of lemon lime soda. "I tried to make you an American dinner so you felt more at home... This seemed the most authentic," He said as he set out the food items on the night table (which had a lot more useable room with the clock taking up residence on the floor). Helping Suki to a more sitting up/still kind of laying down position, he opened the chips and held one to her mouth. "Say ah," He instructed when she didn't immediately open her mouth.

Suki stared at the food he had brought her, then looked at the offered chip in question. After tentatively opening her lips to grab the said chip, munching on it slowly in fear she'd upset her stitches on her cheek, Suki stated, "You have been spending too much time with my boss...Not all Americans eat junk-food 24/7, you know." From the simple idea that Russia really thought that the American culture had as much depth as a puddle was only slightly hurtful, but far more amusing.

Feeding her another chip, Russia pondered what she said. "Нет, statistics show you do," He decided with a sweet smile, disregarding that she actually lived in America and would know what they ate there. He continued to feed her, ignoring the fact that unlike the majority of her, her arms were fully functioning. "Would you like some soda?" He didn't wait for a reply, instead just popping open the can and bringing it to her lips. He tipped it so she had to drink it, drown, or spill soda all over herself.

Starting to find the 'spoon-feeding minus the spoon' act a little odd, Suki slowly reached up her hands, carefully wrapping pale fingers around the soda can as he was pulling it away. "Россия, my arms still work you know, I can feed myself." She let a careful smile show through her features, she laughing lightly. As much as she really wanted to argue about the food thing, Suki found that it would probably be easier to just let that drop for then, as she wasn't being entirely picky on the food she was going to eat, simple starvation nearly having driven her to chomp down on the pillows of the bed just a few minutes ago.

"Кол кол кол кол..." His grip on the can tightened, the small aluminum can crumpling. Ripping the can away from her, he set it on the night table (he had to lean it against the box of treats to keep it upright since is no longer had a flat bottom), and shoved a handful of chips into her face, his smile never changing. "What was that, Сукй?"

Suki growled pitifully, a spare piece of anger managing to find it's way out of her inner pool of fear that had been collecting for so long. "I can feed myself, sir..." She muttered, keeping her mouth mostly shut with a low sense of stubbornness, eyes growing more and more annoyed. It was bad enough to be forced into so many other things, from wearing dresses to broken bones, but Suki at least wanted to keep the last little shred of dignity she had.

The smile remained, but something in his eyes changed. Staring at the girl with an unreadable expression, Russia finally agreed," Да, Сукй doesn't need my help." Placing the bag of chips beside the other food, he pulled the night table several feet away from the bed, far enough she couldn't possibly reach it. He didn't care that the lamp fell to the ground as he did this, didn't spare his guest another look. "Сукй can feed herself," He huffed as he left the room, slamming the door behind him.

The girl blinked as her jaw seemed to fall open. That jerk! She huffed and called after, "You didn't have to leave! I just wanted to feed myself!" Suki wasn't sure if the man had heard her call or not, but she cared little. Hunger was really starting to gnaw at her mind, she already looking over to decide if she could try to lean over and grab for the food. It was a fair distance away, and she was sure that if she really tried, the young girl would surely fall off the bed and hurt herself, probably breaking her leg again in some other direction. But still, she was just SO HUNGRY, she was willing to try about anything, even if it would fail. She reached her arms out, wincing in pain at the motion, her limbs reaching as far as she could push them to go before huffing, leaning back in the bed. Now that was just no fair.

Russia stood outside her door quietly, patiently waiting for the sure to come *thud* as she attempted too hard to get food. Then he could help her back into bed, fix whatever she further hurt and go back to feeding her. All would be fine in the world. Russia nodded to himself, trying to convince himself of that small comfort.

"Baaaahh..." Suki groaned painfully, the pang in her stomach finally rivaling those in her bones. "I want foood...I'm so hungry..." She tried fruitlessly to reach out again, her weak arms still not even making it halfway across the gap before she had to lean in farther...farther...farther...then suddenly the bed seemed to be pulled right from underneath her, her tiny yelp covered by the loud THUMP that followed her body hitting the ground, sending shockwaves of pain through her already weak body. There was a tremendous amount of pain, but Suki's hunger was far more pressing (how long had it been since she had eaten? God, she was starving), and she reached up to just barely grab the bag of chips, slowly bringing it down to herself when she heard the door open, her own hand reaching in the bag to start munching, she uncaring if she was half-sprawled on the floor, only wanting the food that was in the offered bag.

"You really are you're country," Russia commented as he saw her laying on the ground in a very uncomfortable position with a single track mind centered on food. He grabbed her arm and hooked under her legs, supporting the broken one so it was straight, as he lifted her onto the bed. "I have to check on your injuries, you'll have to wait on the food." He pried the chips from her grasp as he lifted her shirt and felt her ribs. They were fine, and after checking her leg, he found she hadn't wrecked that either. "Сукй is very lucky."

"Hmm..." She mumbled, almost sad that the food had been pulled from her grasp. "Yes, but I'm also hungry...I can't remember when I ate last..." She sighed and crossed her arms, sure that he had used this to she wouldn't get the chance to feed herself. That man was certainly a strange one, and his actions and reasons were the weirdest Suki had ever seen. But fine, if it at least meant she was going to get food, then she could go along with it, her stomach almost forcing her into it.

"Hmm... Two days ago, I believe," Russia said as he pulled up a chair and began to feed her more chips. He then fed her a swiss cake roll, his ever present (except for when it wasn't, of course) smile beaming. Deciding she was done, he rolled the bag closed and set the food to the side. "Сукй, what do you want to talk about? Maybe how you're sorry for not appreciating my help after all I've done for you?"

"Say wha?" Suki nearly said too loudly, mouth open and eyes blinking, confused. Not appreciating his HELP? If it was anything to go by, there was very little that Russia had done that could be labeled as 'help', mostly because he was the one who caused her to even need it in the first place. Breaking her bones, throwing food, cups and glass at her were DEFINITELY not helping at all. Of course, it need not be mentioned that she was supposed to be sitting in her office, miles away back in Washington with Mr. Jones and tending to some document or another he was too lazy to read himself. Why did she need to be the appreciative one?

Instead of giving back a sharp retort, the woman begrudgingly decided to just play along with him. It would lessen the chance of him hurting her again and then claiming to give her 'help'. "Oh yes sir; I've been so incredibly unappreciative for all you have done for me. I have only been a bad girl whereas you have given all the kindness in the world to me." Though the woman wished she could have sounded a tad more truthful instead of sarcastic, she oddly didn't care. "My mind body and soul are completely in debt to your hospitality."

"O xорошо, I forgive you," Russia said, patting her shoulder. He picked up the clock that laid desolately by his feet and quietly hummed as he looked at it. "It's getting late," He said, placing the clock back on its spot (the currently misplaced night table) and forlornly walking to the door. "I should be getting to bed. I have a lot of paper work to catch up on tomorrow because of you." Russia stopped at the door and tentatively looked back. "Сукй," he said in a meek voice," ...C-could I sleep with you?" He didn't want to be alone.

As much as Suki was dumbfounded that he hadn't picked apart the sarcasm, she wanted to nearly yell at the man, wondering exactly what kind of paperwork he actually had to do anyways. But it was his small voice that nearly stopped her clean from speaking anymore before she had to take a second to take in his nearly soft words. "You...why?" the girl asked with merely a hint of accusation in her voice, fingers unconsciously clenching the bed-sheets over her body.

Pain struck across his face for a fraction of a second, quickly covered up by his token smile. "Oh, it ah, it doesn't matter," Russia quickly said," I- I'll just be going." While he said this, he didn't make any immediate attempt to move, averting his gaze down to the floor. Waiting only a few seconds, he dejectedly returned to leaving the room.

Suki bit her lip and let her gaze look down, then back up as she guiltily watched the man begin to walk away. Maybe she had been just a *tad* mean in her tone. "No, hey, wait," She said lightly, voice soft. "Y-you can sleep here if you like." The girl let out a slow sigh, laying her head to lean back against the headboard of the bed. The wood was relatively cold and firm to her head, allowing for a little sense of balance to her world of spinning tops.

"Спасибо," He said, rare, real joy showing in his eyes. Catching the lights as he walked back over, he sat beside the bed leaning against the wall. He was content to just be in the same room as someone after so much time of being alone. "Спокойной ночи, Сукй," He whispered, shutting his eyes.

The woman blinked and stared at the man, whispering her natural response without much of a thought. That was most certainly odd. "Uh, Россия," She started, her head in a slight tilt in a combination of curiosity and simple confusion. Though her right mind tried to halt her words, finding the chance of living more appealing than not over simple kindness. "You can sleep in the bed too, there's more than enough room."

Saying nothing in response, Russia stood up and joined her. Carefully repositioning her (she was so fragile...) he sat behind her, holding her close to him with his arms latched low around her waist. He was cautious to make sure he didn't bump her ribs or put awkward strain on her leg, that could put an end to her willingly being held (and there was something nice about them letting you, as opposed to just doing it because you wanted to). Warmth emanated from him, he was for once truly happy. "Спокойной ночи," He repeated even softer then the first time.

"...Спокойной ночи, Россия," If she had been paying attention more to her own tone, Suki would have noticed that it softened up quite a bit. Had she also been a little less sleepy, she might have also noticed how her smile seemed to grow when she leaned her head back against him, almost enjoying the feeling of warmth that his larger body emanated, sending any trace of cold out of her body. He was like an Angel in his warmth, but a Demon in his icy chill. A Fallen Angel of sorts. Yeah, maybe that was what he was. Suki though she had figured out the whole thing, thinking about it all the way until she went to sleep. He was just that;

Just a Fallen Angel that needed a little help to get back up.

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><p>Russia awoke early, sunlight just barely peaking in through the window, and thought about the girl in his arms. She was odd, very odd. At times she fight against his friendship, but then at others she would be so warm and kind. Oh well, he could get passed that, not everyone was as kind and generous and loving and rational as him. He stroked her hair, it shined a nice beautiful copper in the morning's light. "Доброе утро," He whispered next to her ear.<p>

There was a slow hum in Suki's chest as her eyelids started to flutter, eyes slowly opening as she heard his whisper next to her ear, the suddenness of his voice, coupled with the simple (though surprising) feeling of warm breath against her skin nearly made the girl jump. "G-Good morning..." She said back, early morning grogginess slurring the ends of her words with a just barely noticeable drawl. Raising up hands to rub her tired eyes, the young girl started to yawn, though she quickly halted when she remembered about the stitches. There passed a few seconds of nothing, before she blinked the drowsy feelings from her eyes and slightly turned her head towards Russia. "D...did you sleep well?"

"No, I dreamed of burning to death as a building collapsed around me in flames. I couldn't escape because I was trapped and drowning in my own blood. And someone else's, though mostly my own. There was a really pretty moon ," he replied nonchalantly," Вы?" He continued to stroke her hair, much like she was a pet. Placing a warm kiss where her shoulder and neck met, he smiled and let his chin rest there seconds later.

Suki bit back her question the moment the words had hit her ears. "Oh-...oh..." There was a slow moment of silence as her eyes looked downward upon the bedsheets. What in the world could she tell him after hearing that? And how he said it, as if it was absolutely normal to him, what could she say? "I...I slept alright. My dream was good, though I don't r-remember much of it..." she shivered against the man's touch, and nearly squeaked when he kissed her shoulder. What an...'affectionate' man Russia was.

"Хорошо, sleeping well is essential to healing well," He said, pushing them both forward as he reached for and patted her broken leg. Ignoring, maybe not noticing, her reaction to the none-to-gentle-tap, he pulled them both back to leaning comfortably and kissed her neck gently. Her skin was so soft beneath his chapped lips, warm and inviting. A third kiss made it's way up her neck, just as tender as the first two.

The woman had to bite on her lip to keep from gasping in a lungful of shocked breath, eyes open and mind on edge from the combination of pain from her leg, than the man's mouth on her neck. The sensation on her skin, rough lips to smooth flesh was so odd, his lips seeming to dance upon her, moving up as slowly as a jar of molasses would run uphill. Every time he moved up, the skin he had kissed almost tingled, a lightning bolt having hit it and making the woman shiver more and more. Suki wasn't exactly sure how to react, good or bad as it could be, so she simply kept quite, tilting her head out of raw reaction to his light kisses.

His cascade of kisses continued until abruptly they stopped, followed by a hard nip. The bite drew a small amount of blood, but Russia didn't wait around to see. He was already up on his feet, smiling and saying," I have some paperwork to catch up on. Oh, and I'll bring you some food in a while." Tilting his head, his small smile widening, he asked," Any questions? Нет? Хорошо."

Suki blinked and winced, his quick movements making her already dizzy head spin in circles. There was so much movement when his kisses continued, the woman barely noticed the hard nip until she felt warm blood trailing slight trickles down her skin, the man already on his feet with that so familiar smile on his face.

"Th-thank you..." She replied to him, the notion of food already making her stomach growl in hungry anger. Watching as he gave her no chance for any questions that she could ask, Suki pulled a hand up to her neck where it met her shoulder, fingers smoothing over her skin. The pain came when she felt the droplets of liquid ruby on her finger tips, feeling warm and sticky to the touch. The pain wasn't as bad as it could have been, easily ignorable. Though the thought that Russia had actually bit her after such a flurry of kisses was what made her really shiver, unknown in whether the shiver was one of fear, or simple pleasure of such intimate and affectionate actions.

"Пожалуйста," Russia replied, shutting the door on his way out. He happily walked to his office, readying himself for a few hours of paper overload. Paper overload, watching how stocks were doing, and all of the boring things that came with being a country these days. The phone and computer hadn't lessened the workload either, like everyone thought they would. It just increased the speed of which you could be weighed down.

The girl groaned and looked begrudgingly towards the closed door, fingers still wrapped around her neck with meaningless firmity. The blood had mostly stopped, though Suki could feel it's sticky sensation getting all over her fingers and palm. Said hand was pulled in front of her eyes, she examining the damage and how much blood had gotten onto the skin. After a sigh looking at the dried dark red on her hand, the girl started to look around for somewhere to wipe it off, and maybe something to put on the bite, stop the last bit of bleeding that was already dying down. There weren't any bandages or towels in sight, so she simply picked up her old shirt that was still laying on the bed, and used that to wipe off her hand, then using the same thing to press against the crook of her neck. It wasn't like she was going to need that old shirt anymore; not for a few weeks, at least. Then she could go home; back to her old little apartment (which was probably overdue on it's drastic rent), and to her boss and almost casual sort of friend. The vision of the blond stung through her eyes, making tears water and blotch out her vision of the empty cream colored room she now lay in.

She just wanted to go home.

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><p>It was over four hours of work before Russia realized he had been at it for so long. He had been planning to only spend an hour tops before attending to his guest's food, but had found himself stuck in his work. What did he think of this? What did he think of that? How was he going to help the needy? How was he going to react to this country's new political statement? What would he do about these protestors? How should he change his laws to make them more friendly to something or another? What was he-<p>

Of course everything Russia did was reactive, it was the higher ups of his government and the vast population of the working class that truly influenced everything, but he still was consulted (even if things were already decided and it was too late to actually change things...) about every choice and decision the authorities could find. With a sigh, Russia quickly finished things up for the time being and stood up. Looking at a clock, it was pretty close to lunch time so he might as well just prepare that and skip breakfast.

By this time Suki was fargon from simply being hungry. By then, she was actually considering the gnawing of the bed sheets again. Sure, they wouldn't be too tasty, but they had to have some sort of nutrients right? Well, it was either that or one of her limbs, and she actually considered it, but then just as quickly disregarded it. It would be too painful she decided, not to mention entirely messy. She was happy to just settle for the bed sheets, since the wood of the bed frame was too far away for her to reach to.

The door opened revealing Russia with a large tray filled with food. "I brought some tea for breakfast... but it's time for lunch now," He said as he set it down on her night table. Three dishes sat along side the tea and a generous serving of vodka. One of the dishes was a heavy salad with pickled cabbage and other pickled vegetables. The salad was topped with salted meat and a dressing of sour cream. Next to it was a soup, deep reddish purple in color. It was contained in a thick ceramic dish to keep it hot. Last but not least was a dish of dumplings with two sides, one of more pickled vegetables and the other a porridge. "Oбед comes in a few courses," He said with a smile. It was now even later then he intended to feed her, but he had made quite an extravagant meal.

"First you eat the salad. It's pickled since Зима makes getting fresh vegetables hard. Then the soup, I made борщ, that's the national soup of Россия. The второе блюдо is last, I made пельмени. It's served with sides, pickled vegetables and Каша." He pointed to each dish as he spoke about it. Russia sat at his chair next to her bed, watching anxiously for her to start eating. "It took a lot of time and was hard work to prepare. You like it, дa?" His voice was tentative and sounded like he was hoping for acknowledgment at a job well done.

The girl blinked in shock and tilted her head. She didn't respond for a few seconds. Her eyes were so busy staring at the amazing meal the man had brought in, she nearly forgot how to speak. Then, after recovering and finding her voice again, she spoke. "W-wow, this looks amazing..." Suki blinked again, keeping her voice in a soft whisper as if it was all a dream, and speaking too loudly would make it all vanish. The food looked exotic to her, strange and unfamiliar, but her hunger was too great, compelling her to eat regardless if she found that she didn't like it.

He watched her silently, smiling happily. She liked it! He waited for her to start eating the salad before commenting on her statement. "I'm so glad you're grateful. Teaching manners would be such a hassle, especially with that broken leg of yours," He said sweetly, grinning darkly, his eyes bright and shining with joy. Looking down awkwardly, he toyed with the end of his scarf, unsure of what he should say or do.

"Heh...y-yeah..." Suki muttered, chowing down on just about any food that was within an arms reach from her, the hunger driving her instincts to make up for so many lost calories it needed to refill. She had little energy to try and think about his darker insinuations; she was far too hungry and distracted to shiver from what her brain might have envisioned of such a thing happening.

He continued to watch her with his quiet, reserved smile. The nation played with his scarf more, anxiously waiting for something to happen. Absently, Russia started pulling at the beloved scarf, the scars itching. They were ignored, he didn't want to think about them, but the disregard was fore-thoughts deep only. In the back of his mind, he still continued urging his hand to pull at the fabric. Upon realizing this, Russia began his mantra, whispering to himself in low undertones. But he smiled nonetheless, keeping his staring eyes upon the girl who ate in front of him, watching and smiling. Oh what an ignorant little girl she was. She was as fragile as a flower, but as painful as a thorn at the same time. But Russia cared little for details, his mind having been set on one thing from the moment she first accepted his request for tea the first day they met. That little American girl was his friend, and only his. He couldn't deny that she would eventually need to return to her Capitalist country, but he would always know the truth.

Сукй would always and only, belong to him.

**_*THREE WEEKS LATER*_**

Suki sighed and held tightly onto her scarf, feeling its already tight hold around her throat grow tighter. Suki had insisted that she could put on such a simple article of clothing on herself (Her body had already gotten to a good rate of healing), but he wouldn't hear any of it. Maybe it was just her, but she could have sworn his smile almost widened when she had let out a slight gasp from how tight he was tying the scarf around her neck.

One way or another, they were done and in town now, though what town, or where it was, the young woman couldn't tell. All she knew, it was right in the middle of Russia, and right in the middle of winter. The snowstorm had long since died away, but the chilling air sure didn't. Why did they even have to go into the town anyways? Certainly it wasn't because he had to meet with people; Suki couldn't see such a country having friends, as sad as that was to think.

The woman managed to gain a little signal over the few weeks and tried to contact Alfred, whom she over time learned from Russia, starting from the first day she met him, was also the human form of America (For some reason, after the last month, the information didn't shock her. Hard to accept at first, but after a few days of….stories and tales from Russia, it no longer seemed too much to at least accept), but no matter how many texts or voice-mails she left, he just wouldn't respond. It only made her feel more isolated within the old lonely mansion with Russia, and in some sense, far more frightened.

"Лед," He warned, smiling as she looked up at him, an inquisitive look on her face, in time to miss the very obstacle he had been warning her about. He nimbly grabbed her scarf as she plummeted, effectively choking her for the few seconds before he righted her again. Holding her shoulder with one hand, he kept her balanced while he collected her crutches off the ground. "You're so clumsy, little girl," He laughed, handing back her crutches.

Suki gasped lightly for breath as she shyly took back the crutches, not daring to make eye contact with the taller man as she did so. "Д- дa..." She mumbled her now normal and programed response. Though she still used her normal language, english, quite fluently, she had also picked up on quite a bit of Russian. And she soon found that since Russia appeared less intimidating and threatening when she tried to use more of his native language than her own, she had been using it far more with each passing day. She wasn't even at a preschool level, only able to say short, simple phrases and mispronounced words, but it at least amused Russia, and would seem to calm him at even his greatest of angry outbursts.

The young woman silently plodded on beside the man, her eyes obediently dragging onto the ground, most of her curiosity having been crushed, along with her leg, wrists, chest, head, and so forth. To be blunt, Suki was surprised she was still alive in the past near month or so with the mysterious country.

Russia continued walking close to her, slowing his long strides to keep with her less than noteworthy ability with crutches. An unreadable expression was spread across his face, giving the impression of maybe sorrow? Joy? Maybe both? Suki had seemed to grow more submissive as the weeks went on, and it just wasn't fun when they lost interest in life or whatever crazy nonsense the youth of today were subscribing to. "... Do you like ballet? I hope you do," He said quietly, hinting at their business in town. He had worn a very nice jacket today, and had picked out one of Belarus's more fancy dresses for his…guest; of course, she was a guest. Though oddly, the term didn't seem to fit right for the young woman.

"B-ballet..?" The young woman inquired, tapping a finger onto her chin when they stopped in the sidewalk as a car shot past. "I...I'm not sure..." In fact, there was little she could go off from about such a thing. Sure, Suki was a musical girl, and had attended plays and musicals, but never could she remember ever attending something like a ballet. But of course the girl quickly caught how her words had hung in the air, how a possible rejection could be taken so easily by the unstable country. "W-well, I mean I've never been to a ballet before; i don't really know what they're like..."

"Mm, Next to водка and sunflowers, ballet's probably one of the best things in the world," He said as if that was all the information one needed to to know what it was completely like. Well, for Russia to compare it to водка in such high esteem, perhaps it was. He smiled warmly and continued," My favorite one is being performed at the local theater. We'll be seeing it today." Patting her head gently, he added," You'll like it." It wasn't a question, and the usually pleasant and prompting phrase held quite a bit of dark commanding tones in it.

Suki opened her lips to speak, but quickly bit back upon them. Ask no questions and just roll with it, no matter what he said or did. It was the only thing tried and true that the young girl had learned that kept the 'beatings' at bay. Besides, maybe it wasn't going to be a bad thing after all. Who knew, the ballet might actually be a really good thing for the two of them.

Shyly, the girl continued on behind the larger man, her eyes again to the ground and feet half-dragging as usual. Cars whizzed around the duo, causing ripples of cold crisp winter air to keep blasting into the girls eyes. It was starting to get really hard to see.

Looking up and down the street and seeing it to be remarkably clear, he walked into the street, not phased as a car stopped a few feet away from him. Ignoring the angry cursing in Russian his citizen in the car was spouting, he stopped and looked back saying," Сукй, we need to cross here. Спешите." Turning back to the angry driver, he happily waved and warned in Russian," I am the friend in high places, so I suggest you silence yourself." As expected this didn't receive a positive response, and caused a brief stream of кол's. Continuing off his last sentence, he said," Before I silence you instead." He grinned innocently as the driver hesitantly quieted himself.

Suki cringed against Russia at the angry language, only catching bits and pieces of what the driver was saying, but liking it nonetheless when the only thing she understood were horrible curses and threats-mostly about 'the crippled' which she assumed to mean her. She stumbled and whimpered as she felt hurried onward, her arms starting to ache from the quick pace to stay alongside the Russian man.

Soon enough, luckily, the two of them had crossed the road and were once again walking down a cold icy sidewalk, hopefully getting closer to wherever this ballet would be taking place, though since Suki knew little of the town's layouts, she had little idea of how close they were. "Россия..." She muttered, trying to keep up with him. "P-please, can we slow down? My arms are starting to hurt..."

Pinching her side where he knew a particularly bad bruise to be, he joyfully said," There. Now your arms don't hurt, дa?" He laughed and continued his stride. Seeing her struggle and almost lose her balance again, he stopped and steadied her with a supportive hand holding her shoulder. "We're almost there, just a little longer, в порядке?" It was a borderline lie, they had almost ten city blocks to go yet.

Though Suki felt a sudden instinctual urge to cringe away from his hand, her side now stinging and throbbing from the firm pinch, the young woman did her best to keep her composure. She stumbled a bit, cursing under her breath at all the pain, but silently kept following him. It wasn't like she had much choice other than to follow the Russian man anyways. At the rate things were already going for her, she hoped that her body would still be in one piece by the time they arrived to watch the ballet.

Before long, they were entering a theater that had definitely seen better days. It didn't look like it was a theater worth traversing a good 35 kilometers for, but Russia believed it was for sure. This ballet studio was a small, rundown school and obviously not for the highly trained dancers, but it taught the principals well, and they were preforming the traditional version of his favorite story. Handing the attendant the tickets he had bought two weeks ago, he smiled and urged Suki to follow him into the theater and take their seats.

He had made sure they arrived early enough to see the final testing of all the equipment and a few ballerinas marking stage together nervously. This was going to be their first performance for some of them, and Russia couldn't wait to see how they did. One thing he loved was seeing his citizens finding their talent for the first time, experiencing the beauty of dance and excitement of performing. "You know the story of Лебединое озеро, you would know it as Swan Lake, by Пётръ Чайковскій, дa?" He asked, keeping his eyes on the stage as the tech crew switched between dramatic lighting, one of the ballerinas on stage whispering to her peers that she wasn't sure if she was ready for this.

"Um...I, I know a little bit," Suki half-lied while she sat next to him, followed by a sigh of relief when she could feel her arms again. She slowly propped the set of crutches beside her form, then turned to look outward at the stage. She could tell at first glance, even within the large, dark room, that the dancers were nervous. Their faces, especially the youngest-looking ones, seemed more that of anxiety and fear rather than excitement for the dance and story to come.

"I know there is a prince and a woman who was cursed to be a swan during the day, but that's really all I know..." her small voice trailed off when she saw the main dancer, whom she assumed to be Odette, walk onto stage. She smiled and pointed something out on stage for the younger dancers to see, then walked off again. But her form lingered within Suki's sights. She was just so pretty, the girl wondered how one would have been able to make her look so strong, yet so incredibly lithe and smooth; her dress was nothing like the classic tutu that Suki assumed she was going to see, but instead she wore a longer, just as pretty dress-like outfit with lace and glitter adorning the right places, making her appear just as elegant as the story was supposed to lead on. "She's so pretty..." Suki breathed as she eyed the main dancer come back out again, though this time accompanied by the main male dancer, the prince. Suki slowly turned to Russia and let her small hand hesitantly clench into the sleeve of his coat. "See? I think that's the prince and Odette...She's so pretty." She felt a slight hint of envy that she knew her own appearance could never quite compare. Short scraggy red hair, and a body type that better matched a pear than an hourglass. Ugh.

"Да, they probably are," Russia agreed, looking at who she discerned to be the stars of the show. "Swan Lake is a very beautiful story. Princess Odette was cursed to be a swan by day, and Prince Siegfried is ordered that he must marry soon and choose his bride at his upcoming birthday ball. Saddened that he can't marry for love, he goes hunting to take his mind off things and sees some swans in the distance. About to shoot, he stops as a beautiful creature more woman than swan comes into view.

They start to dance and von Rothbart, the sorcerer who cursed the princess, appears, causing Siegfried to threaten his life. Odette stops him, explaining that should von Rothbart die before the curse is lifted, she will forever remain a swan. Later during Siegfried's ball, von Rothbart arrives in disguise with his daughter, Odile, made to look like Odette in every way except she dresses in black. Mistaking her for Odette, Siegfried pronounces to everyone that he intends to marry her. Only after it's too late, Odette arrives, letting the Prince realize his grave mistake...

He returns to the lake, apologizing to her, and Odette forgives him. Because of his accidental pledge to Odile, they realize they can't be together and commit suicide, rendering von Rothbart powerless and killing him as a result," Russia finished, smiling brightly. "Isn't it a lovely story? I especially love the ending... It's so true to life."

"…I do agree," Suki replied with a nod of the head, her expression near unreadable. "Reality can be the most wondrous and the cruelest of creatures." then, there was a few seconds of silence between the two silent souls, with only the sound of their breaths emanating through the cool stuffy air. Then, breaking the silence, the young girl sighed and turned lightly towards Russia. "Though, I'm sure I'd do the same as he; I cannot imagine marrying for status and not love," she paused, as if pondering over her words carefully. Then, the girl laughed. "If I ever marry at all, that is." Considering since she stood a grave chance of even leaving the frigid country alive. Bitter, dark, but entirely honest.

"Hmm..." He seemed to lose interest in her as he watched other people start to file in to the small auditorium. The lights dimmed and the show was ready to begin soon. Most of the people seemed to be the immediate family of the ballerinas and danseurs, and the others seemed like the people who always came and supported the school for the love of the arts. Wrapping an arm around Suki and sitting back, he eagerly awaited the show's beginning.

A man came on stage and introduced the show, saying how glad he was for everyone coming, how this year was a stunning performance with wonderful girls and boys, and a little about the show. Everybody clapped as he left the stage, but quickly quieted as the curtains pulled to the sides to reveal a dark stage.

With the unexpected touch against her frame, much more than what she was still growing used to with the intimidating man, Suki felt pulled against the other warm body, made warmer by the layers of coats between them. She said nothing, but let her eyes trail over to watch the side of Russia's face (regardless if she could barely see in the dark or not), then, finding little to no ill intent within his actions, changed her sights to take in the dark stage in front of her. Excitement grew within her belly at the show at hand, thoughts of what it could hold for her wandering aimlessly within her brain. Just as she was about to think the darkness of the stage was going to last forever, a dim light began to shine, with a slow orchestral music playing lowly.

The stage lit up to show an impressive ball room. The prince was center stage, adorned in white-blue leggings and a sharp, black suit on top that depicted his political power. Women and men on either side wore dresses and suits of similar stature, but not nearly as importantly dressed as to show who the protagonist was.

Russia watched the prince and jester and all the other cast start the first scene. One thing he loved about having seen any ballet hundreds of times (and this wasn't the only one) was how each performance varied from every other one in the history of dance. Squeezing his guest lightly, he nuzzled the crown of her head. Russia just loved sharing his favorite things with others.

Suki was too enthralled with the turn of events onstage to notice much of the soft caresses against her hair, for the movements onstage caught her eyes with the graceful movements, the creativity yet simplicity that filled the air already. She didn't want to miss a single second of action from the stage, so the young girl substituted what she would have done in response to Russia's action, and simply leaned against his body, pushing herself into the warmth and softness of his body. Forgetting all that had happened over the last few weeks, one could say the moment was almost magical as it was…romantic; but of course, it was hard to forget with scars up the arms, and a still broken leg. Still.

The gorgeous ballet continued, from the lake and budding romance, to the ball and tragic mistake. In between the stage change, Russia commented," This upcoming act is my favorite part." He was about to say more, but cut himself off abruptly as the curtains parted once more. By the edge of the water sat Odette, crying, to whom the prince danced over to with apologies abound. Accepting them and pronouncing her love, they began a fouetté rond de jambe entournant, just the beginning of their double work.

Suki watched as the loving duo continued their dance, feeling her body begin to sway slightly to the soft sound of the music, as if it was caught in some sort of trance that she couldn't pull out from. There was just something, something about the ballet that set Suki's mind ablaze against it's soft sounds and rhythmic music; there was no way to define it, but a million ways to love it. She smiled, slowly pulling up her free hand to grasp and intertwine her fingers around Russia's own that was already wrapped around her shoulders, wondering for a second how a moment such as that could ever be broken.

The moment was shattered as von Rothbart appeared, returning the realization that the prince had pledged his love to the wrong woman. Despaired that they couldn't ever be truly together, they looked to the lake. Russia watched with a surprisingly apathetic expression as they leaped, the spell lifted with their loving suicide. As von Rothbart died, the smile Russia had been wearing the whole time returned. Letting go of Suki without hesitation, he started clapping, soon on his feet for a standing ovation. Starting in Russian, he quickly went back and said in English," That was a wonderful performance! You agree, дa?"

Suki nodded lightly as she tried to pull herself at least on one foot, not wanting to seem at all rude for not clapping while her 'friend' was. "Y-es," she stuttered with haste, a smile small upon her pale lips. Though the ending was quite grim, as well as slightly unexpected, there was a certain air of grandness to it. It was both realistic and unrealistic in thought, so it only added to what was already thought of it. Poor dears though, Suki thought to herself, committing suicide for love. Though, she had to also figure, at least it wasn't as bad as a Romeo and Juliet suicide; it would have ruined the entire ballet had the lovers been that way.

As she hobbled up onto one foot, clapping, she stumbled abruptly and began to fall towards the ground. She gasped loudly and reached out an arm to grab a hold of Russia's own, desperately not wanting to tumble to the ground with her already mangled leg and bruised body.

Her face made contact with the chair in front of her before he bothered to act, grabbing her forearm and hefting her back up right. "You're so clumsy, little girl," He giggled, petting her hair. He went back to clapping, the actors bowing again for their standing ovation. They were the last ones there in the auditorium as he went over to the white swan, leaving Suki to try and keep up with those silly little crutches of hers. "You're country is proud of that performance, you portrayed the characters so well and have such crisp technique," He said, of course in Russian.

"Oh, uh, thank you," She replied, waving back at the prince to say she'd be right with him. "Who are you?" To be honest, she was a little creeped out by this man, coming up to her and smiling even though they weren't acquaintances.

"... Just a fellow Russian... Have a nice day," He called, leaving the ballerina and returning to Suki.

Suki wanted to ask him why he had gone over to talk to the dancers, or even why he suddenly grabbed her arm and started pulling her along (quite roughly, she could add) towards the exit of the dance hall. Though her head throbbed and legs protested with each barely helped step, as she had little time to adjust her crutches right, she said little in protest. For some reason, there was just something about the man that glued her lips together, keeping her from saying much of anything. It could have been instinct, a hunch that there wasn't something quite right, but one way or another Suki felt it better if she just kept her tongue still. They exited the building quickly, and with a gasp Suki suddenly realized just how cold it was outside after all. She cursed lightly as she struggled to get her coat back on, moving awkwardly with one arm holding onto a crutch, her other gripped firmly by the large unmoving hand of Russia.

Keeping out a cold blast of air by shrugging up his shoulders, he commented casually," You shouldn't let Зима nip at you. He won't hold any punches in regard to your health, дa?" He maintained his hold on her arm, knowing full well that it would make getting her jacket on that much harder. A large smile adorned his face as he looked down at Suki. As if trying to perfect the moment, a single snowflake fell from the heavens, landing on her cheek. Many pure white crystals soon followed, a very light and airy snow fall commenced, maybe more aptly described as a snow float with how slow they descended.

Oh, so he wouldn't even let go of her arm so she could even try to get the jacket on? Oh well, it mattered little with her already mangled leg, as it was going to be awkward enough. The girl wriggled her arm into the first sleeve of her coat, finding it more difficult then not to move with the crutches digging against her arms. She let them drop to the ground with a clatter, finding herself pressed against Russia while she tried to balance on one leg. It wasn't simple, but she managed.

Deciding only after she managed the feat of fending off the cold, Russia let go and proceeded to walk away, looking back and urging her to follow. "Сукй, come," he said gently with a warm smile, the snow fall coming a little heavier already. "If we hurry, we may avoid some cold." He could tell it was going to drop in temperature drastically and soon. Not only that, but the snow was a heavier and wetter variety which meant the chill would sink into their bones that much quicker.

Suki whimpered lightly and followed after the large man, the heels of her boots clicking faintly against the icy surface of the sidewalk with her awkward gait. With her hobbling movements, she was just barely able to keep pace with the other man, so her breathing soon became short and obviously labored as she tried. Crutches were hard to move normally, so having to use them in the freezing cold and with numb arms was not the easiest of tasks for the woman to accomplish.

Silently looking over at her efforts, Russia smiled. Bending down, he quickly scooped up the redhead into bridal carry, her broken leg sticking straight out awkwardly. Letting her crutches lay across her form so she could hold them, he continued walking like nothing happened. "We don't have to walk much longer, our ride should be just a little further," Russia said, squeezing her lightly and nuzzling her hair. He liked having her here. He would keep her here.

Suki flinched away at first as she felt the intimidating man who horribly hurt her and wouldn't even help her with her coat nuzzle her like a teddy bear. After a few seconds she sighed and realized she had no real control over the matter. Besides, this was one the moments she enjoyed with him; he was showing he could be compassionate and endearing. Suki could stand this positive attention, she'd be able to escape his darker moments leave soon enough, right? Relaxing into his grip, she smiled, unaware that this bipolar nightmare wouldn't end anytime soon like she hoped.

* * *

><p><strong>More A!N (Suki): <strong>Ah, so ends the first metaphorical chapter with Suki and Russia. *w* what, oh what will happen next? Will we meet Suki again, still stuck in Russia? Or will she ever get to go home? And where the hell is Alfred, and why hasn't he bothered to contact her? If you are actually interested in the answers to these questions (and if you are, I already love you, dear reader ;u; ), then you shall have to wait and see, as Momo and I are currently RPing the next part. I'm not sure how long it will take for the next chapter, but you can keep updated in the 'JOURNAL' part of my profile C:

**Remember, reviews are love!**


	6. AUTHOR'S NOTE

**A!N (Suki): _To all of you who are actively reading/watching this story of Momo's and mine, I am here to announce that the next part has indeed been posted, however, it is labeled as a brand new story called 'The Forgotten Who Lived', which is located as the newest story (as of 2/1/2012) in our gallery-ish. So if you wish to continue to learn what happens for the story, then go check it out!_**

**_ALSO: Suki is happy to announce that she has opened up a Deviantart account, where she has already posted much art for this entire series/story/rp thing XD if you are interested at all in any character designs or such, it is highly reccomened you check out her new account! (Devianart: Username of Suki, _**_Darthsuki_**_. Just google her and you'll find it)._**

**_Thanks everyone!_**


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